vjVi 5 


«* 


REPORT 


ON THE 


3faral ^enltjj anfr Jtwonma 


OF THE PROPERTY OF THE 


WESTERN VIRGINIA COAL-MINING COMPANY, 


FOR THE INFORMATION OF STOCKHOLDERS. 


BY 


WILLIAM GIBBS MacNEILL and L. A. SYKES, 


ENGINEERS. 


IPitjj nu Ippniiiix. 


JUNE 10th, 1.851, 


NEW-YORK : 

JOHN F. TROW, PRINTER, 49 ANN-STREET. 

1851. 









































REPORT 


ON THE 


Mineral Mmltjr anb %mmm 


OF THE PROPERTY OF THE 


WESTERN VIRGINIA COAL-MINING COMPANY, 


FOR THE INFORMATION OF STOCKHOLDERS. 



BY 


WILLIAM GIBBS MacNEILL and L. A. SYKES, 


ENGINEERS. 


BJitji n h StppTix&ix. 


JUNE 10th, 1851. 



NEW-YORK : 

JOHN F. TROW, PRINTER, 49 ANN-STREET. 

1851. 





























i 




REPORT. 


♦ 


•h 


New York, 10th June , 1581. 
Lewis S. Robbins, Esq., Astor House— 

Dear Sir :—A compliance with the request made 
in the communication of the 3d inst., which you did 
us the honor to make— u knowing that we had re¬ 
cently been in Western Va., for the purpose of surveys 
and examinations—especially of Coal lands—and that 
we had abundant opportunity to ascertain the charac¬ 
ter and value of the Coal of that region,—together with 
the practicability and cost of mining and getting it to 
marketand that, in consequence, you u desired we 
should, at our earliest convenience, communicate such 
information as may be in our possession respecting the 
value of the mines owned by the West Virginia Coal 
Mining Company, which lands are situated on the wa¬ 
ters of Elk River,” has until now been delayed, because 
of the temporary absence of one of the undersigned. 

The following is the result of conference on his re¬ 
turn to the city, which we respectfully submit to you 






4 


as our report in answer to you. As you, naturally, al¬ 
luded to our opportunities of information, it is not irre¬ 
levant to state that one of us, during a long service in 
the army, was constrained by order of bis Government, 
for years continuously, to traverse tbe Alleghany range 
from the heads of the Susquehanna to those of the Sa¬ 
vannah River,—to minutely survey and level its crest 
instrumentally, and to cross the mountains- in all 
important depressions which promised facility of con¬ 
nection of the Eastern with the Western waters—whe¬ 
ther by railroads or canals, and for such purposes was 
on active duty as an Engineer for years, between the 
James and Kanawha and the Roanoke and Kanawha, 

and had within the past year devoted most of his time 

* 

and thoughts to ascertain fully the mineral, agricultu¬ 
ral, and all resources of the valley of the great Kan¬ 
awha, of which river the Elk is an important tributa¬ 
ry; while, together , we subsequently visited Western 
Virginia, in the early part of March last, for the special 

purpose of examining, professionally, the Coal forma¬ 
tion at several points within the valley of the Kanaw¬ 
ha and its tributaries. For instance, the Peytona mine, 
on Coal River, 35 to 40 miles from its mouth, which 
empties into the Kanawha, 12 miles below Elk River, 
(at the mouth of which, or just above it, is Charleston, 
the county seat of the county, and a most rich and 


5 


flourishing one it already is) ; the “ Maria” (Buchan- 
nan) mine, on Little Coal River, some 5 to 6 miles from 
its junction with Coal River, (say) 18 to 19 miles from 
the Kanawha; the Winnefred mines on .Fields’ Creek, 
situate about the same distance from Charleston as is 
that of the West Virginia Coal Mining Co. —that is, 
Fields' Creek empties itself, say twelve miles above 
Charleston, and the mines on it are five miles from its 
mouth ; and, lastly, the valley of the Guyandotte river 
generally, or extensively, which debouches into the 
Ohio 43 to 45 miles below the Great Kanawha. 

These have been our opportunities ; to such exam¬ 
inations we purposed to confine ourselves. But we 
could not be indifferent to the oft-repeated represen¬ 
tations by intelligent and disinterested persons with 
whom we voyaged down the Ohio, on our way to fulfil 
the special objects, as recited, of our excursion—of the 
abundance and excellence of Cannel and Bituminous 
Coal existing on Elk River. Indeed it was generally 
spoken of as superior in quality to any that had ever 
been discovered and sent to market, whether from 
Peytona, or elsewhere; nor was this assurance given 
merely on our way to Kanawha River, but the same on 
our way up that river, and more particularly and em¬ 
phatically after our arrival at Charleston. Independ¬ 
ent of the interesting fact involved, it seemed necessa- 


6 


ry to a just appreciation of other similar localities, 
which it was our business to examine, that, by compar¬ 
ison of all, we should form our estimate of each ; and 
hence, on tha 11th of March, the region in which you 
are interested, and to which our attention has been 
called by you, was particularly examined. 

On our way up the Elk River, several openings 
( measures , as termed,) of Bituminous Coal, of excel¬ 
lent quality, we saw; but no indications of Cannel Coal 
till we reached the lands of the West Va. Mining Com¬ 
pany ; nor' are there, as yet, any developments of Can¬ 
nel Coal on the Elk River below. Above—a few miles 
above—within, we believe, as informed, the control of 
that Company—from slight openings which have been 
made, Cannel Coal may be found, and probably will be. 

But, unquestionably, within the territory owned by 
that Company, Bituminous and Cannel Coal, almost 
exhaustless in quantity and unsurpassed in quality, does 
exist, and can be mined and be disposed of most ad¬ 
vantageously and profitably: for the veins, strata, or 
measures , are of adequate dimensions for easy and 
economical excavation of the mineral. The dip, or 
inclination, is such (nearly horizontal) as to give every 
desired means of natural drainage. The locality, with 
reference to easy transportation to innumerable mar¬ 
kets on the western waters; to the cities there existing 



7 


and rising as by magic; the thousand steamers de¬ 
manding a constant supply of Coal; the Northwest, to 
which, by railroads and canal from the Ohio to the 
Lakes, such fuel will bear transportation at a profit; 
the Atlantic cities, to which, in like manner, it can be 
transported (or from New Orleans, coast-wise); the 
Ocean steamers stopping at New Orleans for their sup¬ 
ply;—we say, with reference to such markets, that 
you may judge of the probable demand; and, to judge 
of that more certainly, the superiority in the quality , 
for all purposes of generating steam, and especially 
Gas, and for household use, of your Cannel Coal beyond 
the best English Cannel ever imported into this 
country, or known to exist out of it. Such is the 
opinion of competent judges, who have scientifically 
analyzed it,—such is our decided opinion. As to the 
Bituminous Coal, within the boundaries of the Western 
Va. Coal Mining Company’s proprietorship, none will 
dispute, who knows aught of the subject, that it is at 
least equal in quality with any on other branches of 
the Great Kanawha, which, it is sufficient to say, is as 
good as the best Pittsburgh Coal, or that which comes 
from the Youghagany, a branch of the Monongahela, 
and which, passing by, or shipped from Pittsburgh, 
hence derives its nomenclature; and that no better 
Bituminous Coal exists. Certainly the Pittsburgh Coal 





8 


is superior to any found on the banks of the Ohio, 
above the mouth of the Great Kanawha, and that, 
notwithstanding, Coal mines worked and product there¬ 
from shipped at intermediate points,—at Pomeroy, for 
instance, two hundred and forty-eight miles below 
Pittsburgh—most profitably to the proprietors ;—al¬ 
though of admitted and great inferiority, it has a 
ready sale to the extent of the supply. 

Who can predict the limit to demand of the mov¬ 
ing element of steamers ? how create it independent of 
fuel (notwithstanding recent theories) ? What fuel 
so ready, cheap, and attainable, as Coal ? What Coal 
so applicable as Bituminous and Cannel—such as your 
Company can supply ? Where get it more cheaply, 
of better quality,—of as good, in fact—and in sufficient 
or greater supply?—We recur to the demand and ne¬ 
cessity—the wants of the steamers plying the Missis¬ 
sippi, and Ohio, and the Ocean ; of the cities along the 
banks of those inland seas, so constantly springing up 
and so rapidly increasing—indicating all the elements 
of prosperity in the refinements and luxuries of wealth, 
and so enlarged in dimensions and population, that, 
absent from them but a few years, one scarcely recog¬ 
nizes them but by known locality. Well will it be, 
then, if all the known mineral resources—Coal, Iron, 
&c.—prove adequate to the wants of the great and 


9 


growing West. Certain it is, your Company, and others 
similarly situated—and there are none better situated 
on or above the Kanawha than yours—will find enough 
to compensate enterprise, in supplying those wants.* 


* Some may apprehend a superabundant supply,—that there 
may be “too much of a good thing To those somewhat more 
confident and intelligent, we commend the attentive perusal of the 
extracts we append, from the able and statesman-like report of the 
late General Simon Bernard , Brigadier General, and Member of 
the Board of Internal Improvement; of William Tell Poussin , 
late Minister from France, then Captain of Topographical En¬ 
gineers ; and of the late William Howard , Civil Engineer and 
Assistant to the Board; dated Washington City, Oct. 23d, 1826: 
founded on the Reports to the Board of the present able Chief of 
the Bureau of Topographical Engineers, Colonel Abert, and of 
others; and transmitted by President John Quincy Adams, for the 
enlightenment of Congress. Then the question seemed as if we might 
have so many u communications" across the Alleghanies, by canal 
and railroad, that none would prove profitable ! We had none then 
from the valley of the West, but by its great highway, the Missis¬ 
sippi ; nor from the great Lakes, but by their natural outlet, the 
St. Lawrence, and by the Erie Canal; by the advancement of which— 
as the Board expresses it —“ the illustrious Citizen, whose elevated 
views especially advanced this great work, has enrolled his name 
on the list of the Benefactors of his country.” 

As, notwithstanding, the number of additional avenues since pro¬ 
jected and in use, are thronged, and more are needed,—because of 
the growing of the West, and the consequent prosperity of the East, 



10 


Well will it be if discovery be made of far more exten¬ 
sive supplies, (we mean beyond those now known on 
the Ohio, or Mississippi, and their tributaries), for the 
Atlantic Cities, especially for the supply of gas, and for 
household purposes, will demand the Cannel Coal. It 
ignites as readily as light-wood (pine knots) ; is as du¬ 
rable as hickory, when undisturbed by poking, and 
when so disturbed, flashes into a blaze, as does gas 


the North, and the South: aye, of the habitable civilized globe; 
so will be the necessity and demand for an increased supply of the 
vast resources of the West: not r yet their luxuries , but for the ne¬ 
cessities of the age , so abundant there. 

The St. Lawrence has to be, as it will be ere long, and can be 
readily made accessible for Ships navigating the Hudson River ; by 
simply adapting the Champlain Canal to that purpose, and making 
a Ship Canal of but a very few miles (eight to ten), from St. Johns 
to a point opposite Montreal. 

The obstructions to the navigation of the St. Lawrence, for ships 
entering Quebec, which are in Lake St. Peter and but slight, and 
now in progress of removal, and the obstructions above Montreal 
removed, what is to prevent unrestricted commerce with the 
“Far West,” and the city of Montreal, and between Quebec and 
Montreal, and Montreal and New York? 

Another, and the only other natural outlet to New-York—to the 
United States—certainly would be opened to the West, when the 
St. Lawrence shall be made as navigable as the Hudson, and the 
two rivers be, as they may be, so easily united; and so they will be. 



11 


itself on application of the torch ; leaving no residuum 
hut a hickory-like ashes. Such was our description on 
a former occasion, after witnessing its burning for 
nights and days continuously in the grate, (bars merely, 
set into the ordinary chimney of a log-cabin) of the 
Kanawha Cannel Coal. Such is that on your property. 

We recur to our notes : 

“ The lands of the Ya. Mining Company are situa¬ 
ted on the left, or east side of the Elk River, and 
about seventeen miles above its confluence with the 
Kanawha, at Charleston. Falling Rock Creek pass 
es through the lands, and forms a deep ravine, or val¬ 
ley, and affords a most favorable opening for bringing 
out the Coal, and also for the ample drainage of the 
Mines. 

“ The present Coal openings are one mile up the said 
Creek, and a well-constructed wooden railway, adapted 
to the purpose, has been laid from the Mines to the 
River Elk,—where the coal is transferred into boats 
for shipment to almost innumerable markets on the 
Ohio and the Mississippi,, and laterally, and beyond 
those rivers. 

“ The lands of this Company, as we learned from 
their intelligent agent, Mr. Estell, comprise an area of 
some two thousand acres; and we have reason to sup¬ 
pose, as we do from its geological features, that veins 


12 


of Cannel Coal extend, probably, through the whole 
tract. We know that there are, at least, two veins of 
excellent Bituminous Coal passing through the tract. 

“ We found the Cannel Coal, as it had been repre¬ 
sented to us, of a very suj3erior quality. There are, as 
yet, but two principal openings of it—the Coal being 
of the same excellence in each, and the veins are of 
about the same thickness, varying from two to three 
feet. We were informed, and have reason to believe, 
that farther up the Falling Bock Creek, and on the 
Company’s lands, the Cannel Coal exhibits itself in 
much thicker veins, and of equally good quality. 

“ The lands are heavily timbered and with the most 
favorable growth for all the purposes needed for the 
construction of railroads and appurtenances, buildings 
for dwellings, &c., and especially (which is so import¬ 
ant) for the construction and continual supply of 
boats. 

“ The location of the Western Ya. Co. tract, is ob¬ 
viously a very favorable one, being but seventeen 
miles from the Kanawha—which river is navigable to 
the Ohio for boats of as much draught as can run on 
the Ohio.” 

On this point—the navigation of the Kanawha— 
we are pleased to fortify our own opinion by, or rather 
to endorse, from personal knowledge of the Kanawha, 


13 


long since acquired, the opinion officially expressed by 
the distinguished engineer, C. Ellet Esq., who, in his 
capacity of Chief Engineer of the James and Kanawha 
Canal Company, investigated the subject thoroughly. 
He says, u that a steamboat may ascend or descend it 
(the Kanawha) with rapidity and safety,” &c., &c., 
and that its u navigation is as nearly perfect as on any 
living stream.” 

We say that it is, at all events, navigable for the 
purposes in view, and for any draught below the Elk 
River, whenever the Ohio River is: and it being navi¬ 
gable whenever the Mississippi is, it follows, if we 
make Elk River, or other tributary stream as naviga¬ 
ble as the Kanawha, to wit, three and a half feet at 
any season of the year, we shall have an uninterrupted 
navigation for that draught down Elk, and thence to 
New Orleans—or any point intermediate, or beyond 
it. To quote further such excellent authority as 
C. Ellet, Esq.: he says in his very able and statesman¬ 
like Report,—his u Contribution to the Physical Geogra¬ 
phy of the Mississippi Valley ,” with suggestions for the 
improvement of the Ohio and other rivers: 

u The Great Kanawha is one of the largest tributa¬ 
ries of the Ohio, into which it flows at a point compu¬ 
ted to be seven hundred and fourteen miles above the 
confluence of the latter stream with the Mississippi. If 


14 


we examine this river on the profile, we shall find that 
it descends more rapidly than the Ohio, even in the 
first section of eighty-seven miles (twenty-seven miles 
above Elk,) above its embouchure, up to the foot 
of Loup Creek Shoals, possessing the general character¬ 
istics of its recipient. For that distance, also, the 
Great Kanawha is either navigable or susceptible of 
being made permanently so, by furnishing its channel 
an abundant supply of water.” 

Again, in another part of his Report: u The Great 
Kanawha is a navigable river, and is correctly repre¬ 
sented in the profile* From Loup Creek Shoals to 
the mouth of the river is eighty-nine miles, and the de¬ 
scent eighty-six feet, or very nearly twelve inches to 
the mile. The fall of the Ohio, from the mouth of the 
Kanawha to Cincinnati, is GtW inches per mile,” &c. 

Now to the application of this long parenthesis, and 
to a continuation of our field-notes, which say: 

* For “ Profile,” and also for “ Tables” showing “ Descent of 
the Alleghany, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers,” &c., “ Elevation of 
the Ohio River at low water”—with distances of important points 
between Pittsburgh and the Gulf of Mexico, see Appendix: and 
“We learn from these tables, that a descent of nearly four feet per 
mile is not incompatible with the existence of steamboat navigation 
if the supply of water be well maintained; for a steamboat has as¬ 
cended the Alleghany as far as Olean Point, overcoming in places a 
slope of nearly five feet per mile.” 



15 


“ The Elk River is not now navigable at all seasons 
of the year, but by constructing two or three dams and 
locks, it can readily be made so—not only for the Coal 
boats, but for even such Steamers as navigate the Kan¬ 
awha and Ohio; for the fall in Elk River is very regu¬ 
lar and uniform, and although it is represented to ave¬ 
rage 2 feet per mile, we don’t think it is quite as much. 
Be that so: in our opinion the desired improvements of 
the river to render it at all times a good Steamboat na¬ 
vigation, would not exceed $20,000 to $30,000—which 
we think would, in itself, be a good investment; for 
there would, unquestionably, be a very large business 
done on the Elk River if so improved, because, besides 
the carrying of Cannel Coal, as the region abounds 
with Bituminous Coal of unsurpassed quality in excel¬ 
lence,—with lumber in abundance—with saline springs 
for the manufacture of salt, and various other products, 
which would seek an outlet through the improvement, 
the tolls would, in a very few years, render on the 
improvement a profitable return.” (We omit details 
as to its plan, which, simple as it is, would be out of 
place and beyond the occasion to dwell on. It is suffi¬ 
cient that, to us, it is so obvious—as it will be to 
whomsoever is called on to execute the work—we feel 
assured the cost, and return on that cost, will be found 


16 


not to have been very inaccurately conjectured by 
us.) 

In further continuation of our notes and calcula¬ 
tions subsequently: 

“Cost of Mining the Cannel Coal of the West Va. 
Co ., and getting to market .” 

With the aid of data obtained from the Agent of 
the Company, and subsequently from others (for our 
first visit was to the Elk, next to Field’s Creek, thence 
to Peytona, thence to Little Coal Fiver, and lastly to 
the Guyandotte), we conclude that we shall not ma¬ 
terially err if we adopt the estimate, in your case, which 
we did in that of the Peytona property, (which we 
think approximated also to all the Coal properties 
named as visited by us on the waters of Great Ka¬ 
nawha) : and that estimate is as follows—premising 
that it is based on the representations and actual expe¬ 
rience of those engaged in the trade, of credence and 
responsibility, verified by disinterested and intelligent 
persons. We shall simply transcribe from our official 
answer, recently, to the inquiry of those interested in 
the Coal Fiver region; for, although your mines are 
some miles nigher to the Ohio, as we have said, it will 
suffice that you can afford your Coal as cheaply as any 
on Coal Fiver, or beyond you on Kanawha. 


17 


“ Question : What will be the cost of transporta¬ 
tion per ton to New Orleans, after the improvements 
on Coal River” (the same of Elk River) “are com¬ 
pleted ; and, also, the cost to intermediate places, to¬ 
gether with the price of Coal at those places, the pro¬ 
bable demand for such Coal, and also the cost of 
mining per ton ?” 

“ Answer : The cost of mining, as heretofore paid, 
is one cent per bushel. It will cost about one cent 
more to deliver the Coal into boats; or, say, the whole 
cost delivered into boats will not exceed 2 cents per 
bushel. We made many inquiries of persons conver¬ 
sant with the cost of freighting down the Ohio and 
Mississippi rivers; and from the most reliable informa¬ 
tion we could obtain, (and from persons in nowise 
connected with your property, or other similar, disin¬ 
terested, but intelligent of the subject,) the cost of 
freighting Coal to New-Orleans, including cost of 
boats, would be 7i cents per bushel: to which add 
tolls on the Coal River” (or the Elk) “ H cents, and 
the average tolls through the Louisville Canal f cents, 
and insurance 2 }—cost of Coal at New-Orleans 14o 7 <r 
cents per bushel—or, say $4 50 per ton. The Coal de¬ 
livered at Gallipolis, (3 miles below Point Pleasant, 
or the mouth of the Kanawha, which is 261 miles be¬ 
low Pittsburgh, and 204 miles above Cincinnati,) we 

2 



18 


think will not exceed 5 cents per bushel; at Cincin¬ 
nati 6i cents, and at Louisville 7i cents.* 

“ The market value of Cannel Coal, in the markets 
above named, can not be accurately known, or estab- 
lished, until a reasonable demand for this particular 
and peculiar character of Coal can be supplied. The 
market will then become nearly uniform throughout 
the year, and a better price commanded than the pre¬ 
sent average. We think you may reasonably calcu¬ 
late on 7i cents per bushel at Gallipolis; 9 cents at 
Cincinnati; and 12 cents at Louisville. Nor do we 
suppose that the established price at New Orleans can 
ever be less than 25 cents per bushel, or $7 50 per 
ton; for it has ranged as high as 50 cents per bushel, 
and at that price the supply could not meet the 
demand. 

We could add, that, as informed, the present price 

s 

of Cannel Coal, at New Orleans, varies from 30 to 50 
cents per bushel; but we re-assert our confident belief 
that, when a large and regular supply shall be fur¬ 
nished, the market price will then be higher than the 
present average.* You, sir, more conversant with 


* At Gallipolis, Cincinnati, and Louisville, we estimate that the 
boats may be sold at their worth, to wit, three-fourths their cost. 



19 


Commerce than we, can, as other mercantile gentlemen, 
better than we, calculate the freight coastwise to New 
York, or elsewhere; and as readily can you ascertain 
the cost, or freight, by canal or railroad, from the 
Ohio to the Lakes, or, in a few years, by either or 
both means of transportation, from Kanawha, through 
Virginia , to Richmond and to Norfolk. Of this fact 
we feel certain: the demand will increase with , and 
exceed the supply. Go and look at, and study that 
beautiful and rich Western Ya.—contemplate her re¬ 
sources—think of their developments as are to be 
speedily made ; then dwell on the wants of our common 
Country, and the means of the mighty West, and of 
the dependence of our glorious Union, as a whole, on 
its parts. 

We append, and respectfully commend to your 
perusal, as a part of this Report, what we collated 
and annexed to a recent report by us, in reference to 
Western Y’a.; and we also ask your attention to the 
“ Decennial Movement of Population as officially re- 
ported in the returns of the “ Seventh Census of the 
United States of America 

A patriotic and reflecting citizen will be proud of 
his country. A proprietor of such lands as yours will 
the better appreciate their value, by inspection and 
comparison. You will find in the documents the opinions 


20 


expressed and acted on by General Washington, in 
reference to Western Va. 

Respectfully submitted by, 

Sir, your Obedient Servants, &c., 

WM. GIBBS MacNEILL, 

L. A. SYKES. 




APPENDIX. 


♦ 


NATURAL RESOURCES OF WESTERN VIRGINIA. 

• 

The soil sustains a heavy growth of excellent timber, principally 
white oak, and other varieties of oak ; the tulip-tree, or yellow 
poplar, often called the white-wood, very valuable as a substitute for 
pine ; hickory, black walnut, white ash, beech, and sugar maple, Lima, 
chestnut, cherry, cucumber tree, locust, mulberry, and sycamore.— 
Prof. Shepherd's Report. 1838. 

These lands are clothed by nature with heavy timbers. The tim¬ 
bers consisting of white, black, red, Spanish, and chestnut oak, various 
hickories, white and black walnut, the beech sugar-tree, buttonwood, 
buckeye, basswood, poplar, and the white-wood or tulip-tree. From 
this last our boat gunwales are made, often to the length of 110 feet. 
The wild cherry grows here very large.— Id. p. 17. 

As conspicuous among the future sources of wealth and prosperity 
throughout this region, I may be permitted to call the attention of 
the Board (of Public Works of Virginia) to the extraordinary abun¬ 
dance and excellence of its iron ores.— Prof. Rogers , Geol. Rej)- 
West. Va. 1837. 

Soil , ClimatZ and Productions. —No one who travels much in 
Virginia will wonder that her citizens feel a pride in being inhabi¬ 
tants of the Old Dominion. In soil, climate, scenery, and na¬ 
tural resources, it may well be doubted whether it is surpassed, if 
equalled, by any State in the Union. It has been remarked by 
numerous Europeans who have traversed Western Virginia, that for 




22 


richness of soil, healthiness of climate, it assimilates more to their 
own countries than any portion of the United States.— Am. Artizan , 
Extra,]). 10 , 11 . 

Virginia is the largest and most central State in the Union, and 
being perhaps the most varied in her productions, the richest in 
natural resources, blessed with a most happy climate, abundantly 
supplied with noble channels of communication, exhibiting over her 
spacious bosom a pleasant interchange of the most lovely scenes. 
Virginia seems to possess within herself the elements of an 
empire. 

Prof. W. B. Rogers (Geological Reconnoissance), demonstrates 
the mineral wealth of the State to be boundless, and the citizens are 
beginning to realize now more than formerly the great importance of 
bringing forth their hidden treasures from the bowels of the earth.— 
Am. Artizan, Extra, p. 13. 

The mountains teem with every mineral, and give rise to innu¬ 
merable water powers ; the climate is the finest in the world, much of 
her soil the most, fertile. She can raise profitably a greater variety 
of staples, wheat, tobacco, wood, cattle, salt, &c., than any other 
State in the Union .—Editor Tribune, November, 1843. 

The country is hilly, abounding in a rich, deep soil, very clear of 
stone, and but little subject to wash; the whole may be safely culti¬ 
vated by the farmer and grazier, as there is no part that will not pro¬ 
duce fine grass and clover; and such of our hill-sides as are too 
steep to plough, will produce heavy crops of grass for mowing and 
grazing.— Am. Artizan, Extra, p. 16. 

Buckingham's America, Vol. 2 ,p. 251. 

Speaking of Virginia, he says: “ It reminded me forcibly of some 
landscape illustrations of Milton’s Paradise Lost, from the pencil of 
Martin, where mountains piled on mountains go on with accumulated 
grandeur, rising above and yet receding beyond each other till they 
are lost in immensity of space ; while the valley of the foreground 
has all the features of rural beauty that could be expected to adorn 
the Garden of Eden. Magnificent as are many portions of these 
United States in scenery, Virginia carries off the palm; and the ter¬ 
ritory of the ‘ Old Dominion’ not only forms the largest of the States, 


23 


but must be pronounced by every impartial witness, as the most grand 
and the most beautiful.” 

In page 539 he adds : “ Virginia is a magnificent State, larger in 
area than any other in the Union, and more diversified and beautiful 
in its scenery, with one of the noblest bays and one of the finest har¬ 
bors in the world, as well as some of the most beautiful rivers on the 
globe. Her climate and productions embrace, on the whole, a greater 
variety of scenery also than any other State; while the men of Vir¬ 
ginia are among the largest and finest in stature, with more healthy 
complexions and more robust and vigorous frames than are to be 
found in any other Atlantic State. 

“ I have seen it stated, that when Sir John Sinclair, the cele¬ 
brated agriculturist, turned his attention to Virginia as the land of 
his future home, and corresponded with General Washington on the 
subject, asking his advice as to the best portion of the States for a 
gentleman farmer to reside in, the General recommended him to fix 
on Virginia as the Arcadia of this continent. I confess that I should 
have given the same advice to any friend who had consulted me upon 
the same subject. For a healthy, tranquil, and abundantly rewarded 
agricultural and pastoral life, I can imagine nothing superior in soil, 
climate, scenery and salubrity to that delightful zone. It would, 
even now, form an agreeable home for the industrious emigrant, 
with a little capital and knowledge of farming.”— Am. Artizan, 
Extra, p. 22. 

“ King wood, July 21, 1847. 

“ It is true, the face of the country is hilly, but yet very rich and 
free of stone, compared to other hilly countries. The northern sides 
of the hills are equally rich as the valleys adjoining, and capable of 
producing excellent wheat, corn, rye, oats, potatoes, flax, &c. These 
facts have come under my own observation. 

“The land generally is covered with a thick growth of forest tim¬ 
ber, such as red, white, and black oaks, sugar, walnut, beech, dog¬ 
wood, hickory, poplar, &c. Both hill and valley are well adapted 
for grass and clover; white clover grows up spontaneously immedi¬ 
ately after the land is cleared ; and, judging from the fine climate 
and healthy locality, I have no doubt but it will soon be one of the 
finest countries in Western Virginia. The country is well watered, 
and abounds in Bituminous Coal and Iron Ore. 

u Respectfully, your most obedient servant, 

“ Austin F. Crogan.” 


— Am. Artizan, Extra, p. 24. 


24 


Letters from General Washington. 

General George Washington, who was one of the first Surveyors 
of Western Virginia, in a letter to Robert Sinclair, of Scotland dated 
6th May, 1792, says: 

u I can observe generally, that the United States, from their ex¬ 
tent, offer a variety of climate and situation that no country in 
Europe can afford, and that, in the cheapness of land and in the 
blessings of civil and religious liberty, they stand perhaps unrivalled 
by any civilized nation upon the earth. To a person who intends to 
pursue the farming or planting business, and is possessed of the 
Capital (moderate means) which you mention, I should think some of 
the Middle States, from New-York to Virginia, both inclusive, would 
hold out the best advantages. They are free from the inconveniences 
peculiar to each extreme, and unite most of the advantages of both. 
They afford to the farmer a ready market for his produce; the coun¬ 
try is intersected by large and numerous rivers, and the spirit which 
now prevails for improving inland navigation promises to secure a 
cheap and easy transportation, from the most interior parts of the 
country to the shipping ports.” 

In a letter addressed to Sir John Sinclair, dated Philadelphia, 
11th December, 1797, he writes : 

“ The western parts of the last-mentioned State (Maryland), and 
of Virginia, quite to the line of North Carolina, above the water, and 
more especially above the Blue Mountains, are similar to those of 
Pennsylvania, between the Susquehanna and Potomac rivers, in soil, 
climate and productions ; and, in my opinion, will be considered, ifnot 
considered so already, as the Garden of America, forasmuch as they 
lie between the two extremes of heat and cold, partaking in a degree 
of the advantages of both, without feeling much the inconvenience of 
either ; and with truth it may be said they are among the most fertile 
lands in America.”— Am. Artizan , Extra , p. 26. 

Note.— The lamented J. S. Skinner, in his last number of the 
Plow , the Loom and the Anvil , April, 1851: 

“ Yes ! there is probably no spot on the globe superior in delight¬ 
fulness of climate to the mountain lands of Virginia, a high, moist, 
and verdant, but healthy and delightful region, that "needs only clas¬ 
sical associations to elevate it in the public regard, even above the 
far-famed Italy.” 


25 


Extracts from the Western Virginian , Charleston , Tuesday , 

3c? JwTie, 1851. 

Immigration to Virginia. —We noticed the other day, the pro¬ 
posed settlement of a colony of Northern farmers, in Eastern Vir¬ 
ginia. The Washington Telegraph learns, that in that beautiful 
region of southern Virginia, through which the great railroad is to 
pass, near the junction of the four States of Virginia, North Caro¬ 
lina, Tennessee, and Kentucky, near Jeffersonville, in Tazewell 
County—where the soil, the mineral wealth, the contiguity of a na¬ 
vigable stream, and every desirable advantage are all presented—a 
company of French people, skilled in manufactures and agriculture, 
are soon to be established, and under such auspices as will insure to 
them permanent prosperity in their undertakings. 

Wealth of Virginia. —Mr. Joseph C. Gr. Kennedy, Superintend¬ 
ent of the Census, has furnished to Mr. William Seldom the follow¬ 
ing estimates, made up from official resources, of the value of the real 
and personal property in Virginia: 

Value of real estate,.$278,000,000 

Value of slaves,. 147,000,000 

Other personal estate,. 105,000,000 

$530,000,000 

In his letter to Mr. S. he says: 

“ That there is this amount of wealth in the State of Virginia I 
have no doubt; and the official result, when fully obtained, if it varies 
from the above, will exceed it rather than fall short. Estimates have 
lately been made, placing the amount at $800,000,000, which I think 
too great, arising from a too frequent recapitulation of the capital in 
different hands ; a kind of estimate frequently made, though pro¬ 
ducing erroneous conclusions, to explain the fallacy of which, would 
require more than I can now spare, and which to you would be un¬ 
necessary and superfluous.” 





26 


Extracts from a former Report to the President and Directors of the 

Guyanclotte Land Company, May 1851, by L. A. Sykes Sf W. 

Gibbs MacNeill. 

In conclusion, although it may not properly be within the scope 
of this report, the little we shall add, probably, may be interesting. 
We refer to the great avenues to be opened speedily by works now 
in progress, such as the Central Railroad of Virginia, and others, 
connecting the Ohio with the Chesapeake, which necessarily must 
have an immediate tendency, on completion, to materially enhance 
the value of your property, for although it does not become us to 
point out the route of either the James or Kanawha improvements, 
or the Central Railroad, we know that they, especially the latter, 
must take such direction, and so strike the Ohio, as will, before long, 
bring Guyandotte within two days’ travel, at farthest, of the city of 
Richmond, or even Norfolk.* The advantages of such facility of 
intercommunication, and the consequences, need not be dwelt on. 
Sufficient would then be the attractions to Western Virginia as 
speedily to populate it densely with enterprising inhabitants, and 
expedite the full development of its vast resources. 

These attracted the attention of General Washington, even as 
long since as when he was in his original vocation, (under the aus¬ 
pices of the original proprietor of Virginia, Lord Fairfax,) one of the 
first surveyors of Virginia. Then he not only called the attention 
of others to these resources by correspondence, but the records or 
traditions show he evinced his appreciation of that region, of which 
yours is a part, by himself soon after becoming one of its largest 
proprietors. 

His wisdom, expanded intelligence, and foresight, in urging as he 
did in his day some Internal Improvements to connect the east 
with the west, has been abundantly proven by its consequences when 
his counsel prevailed ; and when it was neglected, fully exemplify¬ 
ing that, in this progressive age, standing still is retrograding. 

In proof of it, the import trade of Virginia fell from four millions 
and a few dollars, which it was in 1769, to $550,000, in 1832, while 


* From which communication the whole Valley of Kanawha and its tributaries 
would derive like advantage. 




27 


that of New-York increased from 907,000, in the same period, to 
fifty-seven millions, in 1832. The import trade of New-York, in 
1832, was about seventy times greater than it was in 1769, while 
that of Virginia was eleven times less ; or, in other words, the com¬ 
merce of Virginia was, in 1769, nearly five times greater than that of 
New-York, while, in 1832, it was more than one hundred times less, 
and the disparity has since proportionally increased. 

Omitting the inquiry, Whence this ? the cause and the remedy 
may be implied: They are discovered, and the present and continued 
action of Virginia will suffice for her redemption and the resumption 
of her natural position. 

In soil, climate, production,—mineral, vegetable, and agricultural— 
in her relations geographically, centrally to the west and the east, in 
her manufacturing facilities ; Virginia, with her projected improve¬ 
ments by canal and railroad in progress (many of them now com¬ 
pleted,) has all the elements of national wealth. 


Extract from an Address delivered before the University of Vir¬ 
ginia, June 29, 1850, by President Tyler. 

I know that it it is but too common a thing for comparisons to 
the disadvantage of Virginia to be run between her condition and 
some of her sister States. She is evermore taunted with being in 
the rear of others who have advanced in population and wealth with 
unexampled rapidity, while she, at first the leading State of the 
Union, comes hobbling after them like a cripple upon crutches. We 
are often pointed to our villages now in ruins as evidence of our 
decay. Those villages once beautified the shores of our noble rivers, 
and gave proof of an active trade carried on in Virginia ships. 
That direct foreign trade has ceased, and our mercantile marine has 
almost entirely disappeared. All this is true, and yet when the 
causes of it come to be understood, they betoken no falling off in 
the general prosperity. Before the revolution the great article of 
production was tobacco. It was universally cultivated, and consti¬ 
tuted almost the only article of foreign export, and before sale, was 
subjected to inspection. Warehouses for its reception and inspec¬ 
tion were located at convenient places for the different counties, and 
wherever those houses became large recipients of the article, the 
capitalist was found seated by them. He purchased for export, and 



28 


the ship which he freighted to foreign ports returned with supplies 
for all the country contiguous to the warehouse. Thus the trade, 
both internal and external, was concentrated ; mercantile capital and 
mechanical labor were both put in requisition, and flourishing vil¬ 
lages sprung up in every direction. In 1736-7 the newspaper press 
of the day authenticates the fact, that in a single week 2000 hogs¬ 
heads of tobacco had been shipped from York river only; and 
during the reign of Queen Anne it was enacted that fifty acres of 
land should be reserved for a village wherever an important inspec¬ 
tion of tobacco was established. A change of agricultural employ¬ 
ment, however, brought with it a change in the articles of production. 
Wheat became, partially at first, substituted for tobacco. The culture 
was at first limited to what even in our day are called patches , the 
sickle being then the only instrument used in the harvest; but when 
the wheat-cradle came to be introduced the patches gave way to ex¬ 
tensive fields, and wheat was substituted for tobacco throughout the 
whole of tide-water Virginia. The trade ceased to be concentrated: 
each proprietor shipped from his own landing. A coastwise trade 
took the place of the foreign export trade; the warehouse went into 
decay, and the village shared a similar fate. But to infer injury 
from this state of things is to reason most falsely. Agriculture has 
reaped a decided advantage from the change. The face of the 
country at this moment waves with the golden harvest, spreading 
over innumerable acres, which, under the ante-revolutionary system, 
would be now sterile wastes. An active trade exists in all our rivers, 
and every breeze wafts our produce either to our own markets or 
coastwise to markets in other states, where our exchanges are carried 
on to the mutual advantage of all concerned. The decay of the vil¬ 
lage then indicates no deterioration in our condition, while the statis¬ 
tical tables present evidences of an increase in all the means, and 
comforts, and luxuries of life. 

But there are left out of the estimate elements of incalculable 
magnitude. Since the revolution she has been the great emigrating 
state of the Union. If it is the boast of New England that the 
ocean is the home of her people, and that they vex the waters of 
every sea with the prows of their ships, it may with equal propriety 
be said that the Virginian is to be found wherever an acre of good 
land is to be located, and that with the axe, the hoe and the plough, 
he levels the forest and turns over the furrow. He cannot be con¬ 
tent to be cribbed in cities while there is a wilderness to subdue. 


29 


Does the warm ancl more glowing sun of the further south invite to 
the culture of the cotton plant or sugar cane, there you will find him 
prosecuting his labors with untiring zeal. Do you visit the extensive 
prairies of the west or wander amid the glories of primeval forests, 
in the midst of those scenes you will find him, either cultivating the 
soil, rearing herds of cattle, or pursuing the “ mimic war 5 ’ of the 
chase. His foot-prints are seen among the gorges of the Rocky 
Mountains, and you encounter him on the shores of the Pacific, in 
the fields, in the forests, in the mines—and wheresoever you do find 
him he bears still the impress of his nativity ; and whether the in¬ 
habitant of the humble cottage or the more stately edifice, the weary 
traveller is ever received as a welcome guest, and hospitality spreads 
with ungrudging hand the board. In a*fter years you may meet 
that wanderer of the wilderness in the stately halls of legislation, 
and hear his name uttered in lofty praises from the lips of thou¬ 
sands ; or he may be found perhaps occupying the mansion erected 
as the habitation for the Presidents of this glorious confederacy—or 
if the banner of the country is outspread in hostile array to some 
foreign enemy you may chance to find our embattled hosts led on to 
victory by native born sons of this venerable commonwealth. The 
deep roar of the cannon on the Rio Grande, at Buena Yista, Cerro 
Gordo, Chapultepec and Mexico, may announce their names in glory 
to the world. 

If we turn our attention inward in order to ascertain the con¬ 
dition of her people at home they will be found to be in an eminent 
degree law-loving and law-abiding; crimes of a deep dye are of rare 
occurrence among them. I state as a fact which has fallen under 
my own observation, that the public jail of the county of my birth 
and residence has had but a single inmate for more than five years, 
and that a person of color. The same observation doubtless holds 
good to a great degree in regard to the other counties of the State, 
If we exhibit no overgrown towns, which are but too often the hot. 
beds of vice, we show a country well cultivated, a people happy and 
contented, and the fire of liberty burning with a bright and glowing 
flame. If they tell us of the prosperity of others, we reply that 
want is scarcely known among us. If they point us to numberless 
villages dotting the face of other states, while we rejoice in such 
evidences of their prosperity, we tell them that our inclinations and 
tastes lead us not into the workshops, but into the country ; and 
that the homes of our childhood, if forest bound and forest embow- 


* 


30 

erecl, are homes of happiness and contentment. So far as agricul¬ 
ture is concerned, I do not believe that the world affords an instance 
of greater progress than the last twenty years have witnessed among 
us. Lands which had gone to waste have been reclaimed to more 
than their original fertility, and have quadrupled in their production- 
The future already prepares to remove the veil from its features, 
and that future is full of promise. 


Railroads in the United States , with a Map, by Peter Clarke , Esq., 

of Virginia. 

% 

Guyandotte , Va., December 10 tli, 1848. 

I have prepared, with some care, a railroad map, in which I have 
endeavored to lay down the principal railroads projected, in progress 
and completed, in the United States. In the main I think it correct, 
and beg leave to submit it to your disposal with a few remarks. 

On looking at the map it will be seen that many of the States 
have commenced and carried out, to a greater or less extent, a State 
system of roads, concentrating at some important point within their 
own territory. 

In the second place, these State systems may be grouped into 
more general systems, having for their foci the principal seaports of 
the Atlantic coast: and in the third place, I may be pardoned if I 
attempt to show that the great system which terminates at Norfolk 
holds a pre-eminent rank in point of natural advantages. 

Before I proceed to these remarks in the order here indicated, it 
may not be amiss to refer to the geographical fact, that between New 
York and Norfolk there is a great extent of sea-coast without any 
good harbor: and the same remark will apply to the coast between 
Norfolk and Charleston : thus indicating these cities as proper sites 
for great commercial towns. It will be seen, also, that the great line 
of railway along the Piedmontese region of the United States, crosses 
the principal rivers at the head of navigation. Below this line it is 
probable that no parallel railroads will be constructed, or if construct¬ 
ed, that they will be unprofitable, since the numerous rivers empty¬ 
ing into the Atlantic will afford abundant facilities for carrying the 
trade of this tide-water belt of country to the Atlantic. There is an 
exception to this remark in North Carolina, where, from the want of 



31 


harbors, parallel lines of railway may be necessary to carry off the 
trade of the interior each way to Charleston and Norfolk. 

But to return to the State systems of railways. In Maine. Port¬ 
land is the nucleus of internal improvements; and the great Atlan¬ 
tic and St. Lawrence railroad will undoubtedly become the avenue of 
a vast trade not only from the mineral and grazing regions of New 
Hampshire and Vermont, but more especially from Montreal, from 
which, as a commercial centre, this great railway will give the most 
direct outlet to the Atlantic. Notwithstanding the coast of Maine 
is indented with so many fine harbors, inviting the trade of the coun¬ 
try immediately interior, yet the people are aroused to the importance 
of railroads, and have chartered over 650 miles mainly terminating 
in Portland: thus connecting most of the principal towns with that 
noble harbor. 

New Hampshire and Vermont can hardly be said to have any 
State system of railways, being geographically dependent upon Bos¬ 
ton and New-York. A fine spirit, however, pervades these States 
now, in regard to opening several important lines of railway through 
them, and the development of immense wealth with their social and 
physical improvements will be the immediate consequence. 

Massachusetts, small in territory, but great in all that ennobles 
mankind, has done more to perfect her State system than any other 
State, and has effectually opened avenues for concentrating not only 
her own trade, but that of nearly all New England upon her enter¬ 
prising capital. More than this, she has, through the liberal policy 
of the adjoining States, already entered into competition with New- 
York and Pennsylvania, for the trade of the lakes and the North- 
West; and her unexampled prosperity is a practical comment upon 
the wisdom of her noble efforts in the cause of internal improvements. 

Bhode Island, hemmed in by her neighbors, can hardly have a 
system of her own. Providence, however, with its capacious harbor, 
will, by its connection with the railways of Massachusetts and Con¬ 
necticut, continue a port of great activity, and stimulate the numer¬ 
ous manufacturing establishments in its vicinity. 

Connecticut also falls under the controlling influence of her more 
powerful neighbors. Stonington, Allyn’s Point. New Haven and Bridge¬ 
port, are rather points of connection between New-York and Boston, 
than centres of the trade of the interior. With the four roads ter¬ 
minating at these points, in addition to her beautiful river, Connecti¬ 
cut has great commercial facilities. In addition to all these, the im- 


32 


portant highway recently opened between New-York and New Haven 
will greatly increase the facilities of intercourse between the former 
city and Boston, and more especially when the road, as now contem¬ 
plated, shall be extended coastwise from New Haven to Norwich ! 

New-York, by her geographical position, naturally concentrates all 
her commercial energies upon her great emporium, and this is the 
secret of her supremacy. In obedience to this law all her railways 
are constructed. With one line of railway extending north-west to 
Lake Champlain, to be extended with the Vermont railroads, another 
through the centre of the State to Buffalo, throwing off branches to 
Cape St. Vincent and Niagara, and the New-York and Erie, 450 
miles in length, extending along the whole south border to Lake Erie 
at Dunkirk, she seems prepared not only to gather in her own domes¬ 
tic trade, but also to draw in an immense foreign business. 

New Jersey will probably never have a great commercial focus 
within her own borders, being by her geographical position under the 
overshadowing influences of New-York and Philadelphia. She pos¬ 
sesses, however, great natural facilities for commerce : for although 
she has few, if any, good sea-ports of her own, the northern and cen¬ 
tral portions of the State are immediately connected with the great 
cities above referred to, while the south-western part of the State is 
accommodated by the Atlantic and the Delaware Bay ; and should 
the road laid down on the map, extending from near Amboy south¬ 
westerly through the State, be constructed, every portion of this State 
would be opened to the best markets in the Union. 

Pennsylvania, not so well situated as New-York for perfecting a 
State system of railways, has, nevertheless, put forth gigantic efforts 
for this purpose. In the eastern part of the State her vast mineral 
wealth has been developed by her wise policy. Her numerous rail¬ 
ways wind among her everlasting hills, and pour into Philadelphia a 
rich and rapidly increasing trade. In the west, Pittsburg is well 
situated for collecting the trade of the western section of the State; 
and when the great central railway from Philadelphia to Pittsburg 
shall have been completed, Pennsylvania will have secured the most 
of her own domestic business, and opened an avenue for the vast 
trade of the West. The contemplated extension to Erie will enable 
her to contend for the trade of the great Lakes. 

Delaware., by means of the great lines crossing the north part of 
the State, and with the line opened from Seaford to the Breakwater, 
as delineated upon the map, would have all needed facilities for trade. 


< 


33 

Her natural advantages for commerce are very great, having the no¬ 
ble Delaware bay and river on the east, and indented by one or more 
navigable waters of the Chesapeake on the west, 

Maryland comes next, with the State system so well arranged as 
to concentrate upon Baltimore the trade of the western portion of 
the State, and, like that of New-York, admirably calculated to draw 
in trade from abroad. Her great Baltimore and Ohio railroad 
stretches through her whole extent westward, and looks out upon the 
great valley of the West. On the north of this great trunk, she has 
three great lines connecting with Philadelphia, Lancaster, and Harris- 
burgh, and on the south two, reaching to Washington and Winches¬ 
ter. This admirable arrangement is well designed to make the mon¬ 
umental city the centre of a great and growing trade. 

Yirgina has a system of railroads projected, and partially com¬ 
pleted, which, if carried out, will secure to Norfolk, her great com¬ 
mercial centre, a larger domestic trade than that of any other State. 
The trade of the northwest part of the State will naturally flow down 
the Ohio, and thence over the Richmond and Ohio railroad to Ptich- 
mond and Norfolk, or eastwardly over the Baltimore and Ohio rail¬ 
road to Baltimore. But with a system of railways completed, as 
spread upon the map, the trade of the whole middle and southern por¬ 
tions of this great State will naturally centre upon Richmond and 
Norfolk—and the State will have the means of drawing in an im¬ 
mense foreign trade. The map shows all this. On the north, the 
system is somewhat imperfect; and unless the great central and south¬ 
western and southern lines are completed, the two lines leading off to 
Winchester and Alexandria will, instead of enriching the State, only 
tend to draw off her trade to Baltimore, and keep the Old Dominion 
in an impoverished state, dependent upon the commercial enterprise 
of the North ; but with this system perfected, all the parts will har¬ 
monize and advance the best interests of the Commonwealth. The 
Portsmouth and Roanoke road, the Danville road, and Lynchburgh 
and Tennessee, and the Richmand and Ohio roads, the Richmond, Fre- 
dricksburgh and Potomac road, and the Louisa road, as well as the 
Gordonville and Alexandria railroad, are all important parts of one 
grand system of railways, all needed to perfect the great Virginia sys¬ 
tem. It is a system, it would seem, that need only be seen delineated 
on the map, to secure the hearty and zealous co-operation of every 
enlightened mind in Virginia,—and hence the folly of disunion, and 
local prejudice in regard to the railroad policy of this State, which 

3 


34 


has hitherto retarded her progress. It may be said of each of the 
four great roads first above mentioned, that they open into a larger 
field of business without the fear of rivalry, than can he said of any 
other roads in the Union. The northwestern section of the State, by 
its geographical position, comes under the influence of the Baltimore 
road, and the trade of that interesting portion of the State will con¬ 
tinue for some time to flow in that direction. Could a route be ob¬ 
tained, however, in the direction from Staunton to Parkersburg, it 
would perfect the great State system of Virginia. And I venture 
to predict that the time is not far distant when this will be accom¬ 
plished. 

North Carolina has no State system of railways, for the reason, 
that she has no good sea-ports, and hence the railroads of this State 
take the direction calculated to carry off her trade to the adjoining 
States. 

South Carolina having the best port on the southwest Atlantic 
coast, has done nobly in framing her railways so as to terminate at 
Charleston. The map will show how admirably fitted her State sys¬ 
tem is, not only for her domestic trade, but also to gather in a large 
foreign business. The three great arms of her system are the South 
Carolina road, the Manchester and Wilmington road, and *the road 
from Columbia towards Knoxville. 

Georgia can build up an important State system of railways. Her 
great central road between Savannah and Decatur, is a noble work, 
and enjoys a monopoly of the trade of a large section of country ; 
and, with energy on the part of Savannah, this great road will form 
the basis of an important State system. From Decatur, this line is 
to be extended to Nashville ; but much of the descending trade will 
be likely to turn off from Decatur, on the Georgia railroad, to Charles¬ 
ton, and southwesterly to New Orleans. 

Alabama has the means of building up a great trade at Mobile, 
and by judicious prosecution of her contemplated lines, she will make 
that city an important focus of a large domestic trade. 

Mississippi comes entirely under the influence of New Orleans 
by means of the New Orleans and Nashville road. Natchez and 
Vicksburg are both important towns, but are too much under the 
overpowering influence of the Crescent City to become either of them 
the centre of a State system of railways. 

Tennessee has Memphis ; Nashville, and Knoxville, each an im¬ 
portant point, will divide the domestic business of the State. It will 




35 


be seen, however, that none of the interior States, with the exception 
perhaps of Ohio and Missouri, has any one commercial centre. 

Kentucky has Louisville, a most important city for 'commercial 
and manufacturing business, but it can never concentrate the trade 
of a large portion of Kentucky, but will rather draw her support as 
well from Indiana and Illinois. 

Missouri has done little or nothing, as yet, with railroads; but 
should the great Pacific railway come down the Missouri, or Kansas 
river, to St. Louis, instead of terminating at Galena, it would be dif¬ 
ficult to comprehend the commercial greatness of that city. That 
St. Louis should be the terminus of the great Pacific road appears 
from the considerations that as low a point as practicable on the 
Mississippi should be selected, so as to concentrate as large a trade 
as possible upon it,—and that from such a point this trade should be 
thrown olf upon the most direct line to the Atlantic. In both these 
respects, St. Louis possesses great advantages over Galena. As it is, 
she is one of the most important business centres in the West; and 
with the advantages of railroads superadded, she would rise proudly 
pre-eminent among the cities of the valley. 

The trade of Illinois will be divided between Chicago, Galena, 
Alton, Warsaw, Quincy, and Cairo, at the junction of the Ohio and 
Mississippi. The former is by far the most important point, and 
will draw a large portion of the trade of northern Illinois. Its back 
country is larger^ and richer than that which comes immediately 
under the influence of Boston, and her future prospects are full of 
promise. 

Indiana also must divide her trade among the lines of railway 
crossing her territory from east to west; and the same remark will 
apply to Michigan. 

Ohio forms an exception to most of the western and inland States. 
The commercial greatness of the Queen City exerts an influence not 
only upon Ohio, but upon large portions of the adjoining States, and 
her grand system of railways is calculated to maintain this influence. 
She is in the midst of a large surrounding country exceedingly rich 
and highly cultivated. Whether the eastward tendency of trade by 
railways will take more from her than it will give, may be prolemati- 
cal; but she will continue the great commercial centre of the West 
north of the Ohio, and east of the Mississippi, and form a most at¬ 
tractive point for railway connections with the Atlantic cities. It is 
an important fact, that great railways are in progress of construe- 


36 


tion to her, from every considerable city on our tide waters. The 
second remark, that the railways of the United States may be 
grouped into general systems, having for their foci the principal At¬ 
lantic cities, is made evident by the map. The delineation of these 
great railways presents the strongest proof of the untiring energy 
and enterprise of our citizens and should make every American 
feel proud of his common country. They not only improve our social 
and physical condition, but constitute the strongest bonds of union, 
and are the very sinews of our national strength. A few years since, 
the eastern shores of the great lakes, and the head waters of steam¬ 
boat navigation upon the Ohio, were the Ultima Thule of railroad 
enterprise. These barriers are already overleaped, and lakes are 
being encircled with these iron bands, and as if impatient of the 
tardy steamer, the rapid car will soon traverse the whole valley of 
the Ohio, and Galena and St. Louis will only for a while oppose a 
limit. Still westward, like a foaming steed, will it press on, till its 
fiery breath shall be seen curling over the crest of the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains, and mingling with the spray of the broad Pacific. From each 
of the great sea ports of the Atlantic the eye will readily trace con¬ 
tinuous lines of railway connecting them with Cincinnati, and more 
remotely, with Galena and St. Louis. I need not particularize, for 
the map speaks the plainest language upon this subject, and addresses 
to the eye an argument which cannot be gainsayed. 

It is worth remarking, however, that the four cities, Boston, New- 
York, Norfolk, and Charleston, seem upon the map to be. the most 
prominent foci of these great railways. 

Boston is the commercial centre of New England ; and if she were 
not so geographically, the sagacity of her citizens, by a wise railroad 
policy, has made her so. Not content with securing her own legiti¬ 
mate field of enterprise, her enlightened and enterprising business 
men are seen encircling the lakes, and constructing railways through 
New Hampshire, Vermont, New-York, and Michigan, and in common 
with the latter State, contending for the trade of the West. Under 
their wise energies it would be difficult to say what she will not ac¬ 
complish. 

If we look at New-York in this connection, it will be seen that 
when her railways are completed, she will possess great advantages 
over Boston, and also over Philadelphia and Baltimore. In the first 
place, the most feasible line of communication between Boston and 
the West is through the heart of New-York; and the advantage of 


» 


37 


New-York will appear from the fact, that from Albany, the point 
where the western trade will divide between Boston and New-York, 
the route is some fifty miles nearer the latter city, besides having the 
advantage of a far easier grade. This is a fearful odds against Bos¬ 
ton, and will tax all her energy and capital to overcome it. On the 
south it will be seen that from Philadelphia to the ocean, the great 
level to which trade tends, it is further than by railway to New-York: 
and the same remark will hold in relation to the Monumental City. 
Thus New-York would seem, from her geographical position, to pos¬ 
sess advantages for engrossing the lion’s share of the whole north¬ 
west of the Union, extending in width from Baltimore to Albany, 
and from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. How far her great rivals 
will encroach upon her natural advantages remains to be seen. The 
Empire City, however, if true to herself, will always hold the pre¬ 
eminence, for the simple reason, that on the Atlantic coast of this 
broad belt, just referred to, there is no other important sea-port. 

Again, if we look at the map, we shall see that another broad belt, 
in width nearly double that of the former, extending from Baltimore 
to Charleston, has no good sea-port except Norfolk ; and could we, 
for one moment, give to Norfolk the capital and population of New- 
York, there would be no extravagance in asserting that her great na¬ 
tural advantages had made her the commercial emporium of the 
Union. The natural dependence of Baltimore upon Norfolk would 
then be seen and acknowledged, and the latter would exert a prepon¬ 
derating influence upon Cincinnati and St. Louis, by means of the 
central road through Virginia from her tidewaters to the Ohio. 
Charleston, as a great focal point on the seaboard, though important, 
is, nevertheless, subordinate to the others, not only because her har¬ 
bor is not so good, but because the belt of country, coming under her 
immediate influence, is much less than the former. Besides, it will 
be seen on the map, that about one-half of this belt must be yielded 
to Mobile and New Orleans ; and that if we trace into the interior, 
the great trunk of her railroad system, the eye will rest upon Deca¬ 
tur, Chattanooga, and Nashville, as points where the trade, which 
would otherwise go to Charleston, will be drawn off both to Norfolk 
and New Orleans. 

In addition to these desultory remarks upon the railways of the 
United States, I shall be pardoned if I say a few things in relation 
to the railways of the Old Dominion. The map will fully justify all 
that has been said of her State system, and of Norfolk as a great 


38 


centre of a general system. In an article published in the Railroad 
Journal , October 31, 1846. I ventured the assertion, that from her 
great geographical advantages, the eye would rest upon Norfolk as 
the commercial emporium of the Union ; and I feel gratified that the 
same view has been taken in the able and spirited letter of Lieut. 
Maury, recently published in your journal, in relation to the Lynch¬ 
burg and Tennessee railroad.* 

Possessing such an advantage in the site of her commercial capi¬ 
tal, it would seem incredible that Virginia had as yet done so little 
to secure the commercial pre-eminence which so naturally belongs to 
her. Her great railroad system, as delineated upon the map, em¬ 
braces and harmonizes all her sectional interests. And yet partial 
views have been so generally entertained by the friends of internal 
improvement in our State, that these sectional interests have been 
arrayed against each other. To an intelligent mind, unacquainted 
with this remarkable fact, it would appear unaccountable that the 
friends of either of the great lines, delineated on the map, should be 
opposed to the rest: for they all look out from the State in different 
directions, having each large and rich sections of country under their 
immediate influence, and tending severally to great commercial cen¬ 
tres in other parts of the United States. For instance, the Ports¬ 
mouth and Roanoke, and the Petersburg and Richmond lines, com¬ 
mand the trade of the eastern portion of North Carolina, and tend 
ultimately to Charleston. The Danville road looks out upon the cen¬ 
tral part of North Carolina: and coursing through the upper parts 
of South Carolina and Georgia, and the southern portion of Alabama 
and Mississippi, offers almost an air-line connection with New Orleans. 
The Lynchburg and Tennessee road will command the trade of the 
interior portions of North Carolina and Tennessee, and will pass on 
to Nashville, and thence to Memphis. The Richmond and Ohio rail¬ 
road extending northwest through the geographical centre of the 
State, takes the Ohio at Guyandotte, the most feasible point for se¬ 
curing the trade of that noble river, and thence by one branch, 
coursing on in the same direction, reaches Cincinnati, and still on¬ 
ward to Chicago and Galena: and from Guyandotte by another pro- 


* The same view wa9 so “ taken ” at least twenty-five years ago, by the then 
“ Chief Engineer ” of the United States corps of Engineers, General Josh. G. Swift, 
whose comprehensive and expanded views the intelligence of the age will not fail 
to coincide in.—W. G. MacNeill. 



f 


39 

posed route, it passes through Frankfort and Louisville in a direct 
line to St. Louis. 

1 he intrinsic merits of these great lines are sufficient to recom¬ 
mend them to public favor: and could a proper spirit prevail, private 
enterprise would he aroused in favor of them, and with a small pub¬ 
lic patronage they would all succeed. Let Virginia but manifest an 
interest in these great lines, and by her credit aid, to some extent, in 
their construction, and water would no sooner seek its level than 
wealth and prosperity would flow in upon her from every direction, 
invigorating every part of her vast territory, and raising Richmond 
and Norfolk to a proud rank among the cities of the Union. 

Look for one moment at the map, and for once imagine the whole 
Continent west of the Mississippi blotted out of existence; still the 
vast resources of the eastern portion of the great valley fully justifies 
all the gigantic efforts made by the Atlantic cities to monopolize and 
centralize its trade. For this splendid prize, it has been admitted 
again and again by all considerate men in Virginia, and by the advo¬ 
cates of rival lines elsewhere, that Virginia might successfully con¬ 
tend, and by opening the Richmond and Ohio railroad, would have 
the best outlet for the business of this wonderful region. If we look 
to the southwest, she would, by means of the three great arms of her 
State systems before referred to, enjoy almost an independent mono¬ 
poly of the business of a large portion of the whole southwestern 
section of the Union. 

But, again, on the west bank of the Father of Waters, and in the 
geographical centre of a country larger than the whole Union east of 
the Mississippi, stands St. Louis, possessing natural advantages and 
facilities for a system of railways concentrating upon her, unequalled 
upon the globe. From this important point Virginia still offers the 
best outlet to tide water, whether the route be taken thence, via Cin¬ 
cinnati or Louisville, to Gruyandotte, and thence to Richmond and 
Norfolk. 

I have ventured to propose a new route between both Richmond 
and Norfolk and New-York, which would greatly increase the facili¬ 
ties of intercourse between these cities, and give to the latter great 
inducements to make Norfolk and Richmond the gateways for much 
of her Western trade. To effect this new route, nothing is wanting 
so far as Norfolk is concerned, but to construct a short railway from 
Seaford at the head of steamboat navigation on the Nanticoke river, 
to Lewiston, at the Delaware Breakwater. If I am rightly informed, 


40 


this distance is only about thirty miles. By this means a new route 
would be opened between New-York and Norfolk, about seventy-five 
miles nearer than the present railroad route. The whole route could 
be accomplished in ten or twelve hours, and would be the pleasantest 
trip in the Union. To give Richmond the advantage of increased 
facilities for intercourse with New-York, all that is wanting would be 
to extend the Elkton road to the mouth of the Rappahannock, which 
was recently chartered, from Richmond to the head of the York river. 
If, instead of taking the route via Camden, a new line of railway were 
opened through the whole length of New Jersey, the line would still 
be more direct, and the whole of New Jersey brought into immediate 
communication with New-York and Norfolk. 

If these greater facilities of intercourse were opened between New- 
York and Norfolk and Richmond, Virginia would be the gainer. In¬ 
deed in whatever direction we look, whether north, south, or west, 
Virginia still fills up the field of vision : and we almost involuntarily 
cry out to her to open her territory, and let trade and commerce flow 
in upon her from every direction. Nay more, if we look out upon 
the Atlantic, Norfolk is still in the eye as the best point of commer¬ 
cial connection with Europe, the West Indies, and the South Ameri¬ 
can Republics. If we look to the revolutions going on in the east, 
and reflect upon the increasing implications of business between Eu¬ 
rope and Asia, and the tendency of trade to flow through the Levant 
in the direction of the Indies and China—still further, if we turn 
again to the rapid extension of our institutions westward, and to the 
probable opening of the great Oregon railroad, Virginia still lies in 
the way, and yield she must to the necessity of opening her borders, 
so as to give free course to the swelling current of business, which is 
destined, at no very distant period, to encircle the globe. 

I tnust beg your pardon for troubling you with so long a letter, 
and subscribe myself, 

Most respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

P. CLARK. 

% 

[The foregoing letter is taken from the American Railroad Jour- 
nal , of January 1849.] 


















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44 


Extract from the Oration of the Hon. Daniel Webster, Secretary 
of State, on the laying of the corner stone, by President Filmore, 
of the extension of the Capitol, 4th July, 1851. (Received after 
the Report was in press). 

Beneath the stone is deposited, among other things, a list of 
which will be published, the following brief account of the proceed¬ 
ings of the day, in my handwriting:— 

{c On the morning of the first day of the seventy-sixth year of 
the independence of the United States of America, in the city of 
Washington, being the 4th of July, 1851, this stone, designed as the 
corner stone of the extension of the capitol, according to a plan ap¬ 
proved by the President, in pursuance of an act of Congress, was 
laid by Millard Fillmore, President of the United States, assisted by 
the Grand Master of the Masonic Lodges, in the presence of many 
members of Congress ; of officers of the executive and judiciary 
departments, national, State, and district; of officers of the army and 
navy, the corporate authorities of this and neighboring cities; many 
associations, civil, and military, and masonic; officers of the Smith¬ 
sonian Institution and National Institute ; professors of colleges, 
and teachers of schools of the district, with students and pupils ; a 
vast concourse of people from places near and remote, including a 
few surviving gentlemen, who witnessed the laying of the corner 
stone of the Capitol by President Washington, on the 18th day of 
September, (1793) seventeen hundred and ninety-three. If, there¬ 
fore, it shall be hereafter the will of God, that this structure shall 
fall from its base, that its foundations be upturned, and the deposit 
beneath this stone brought to the eyes of men, be it then known that, 
on this day, the Union of the United States of America stands firm 
—that their constitution still exists unimpaired, and with all its 
original usefulness and glory, growing every day stronger and 
stronger in the affections of the great body of the American people, 
and attracting more and more the admiration of the world. And all 
here assembled, whether belonging to public life or to private life, 
with hearts devoutly thankful to Almighty God for the preservation 
of the liberty and happiness of the country, unite in sincere and 
fervent prayers that this deposit, and the walls and arches, the 
domes and towers, the columns and entablatures, now to be erected 
over it, may endure forever. 

God save the United States of America. 

DANIEL WEBSTER, Secretary of State.” 


45 


Fellow Citizens —Fifty-eight years ago, Washington stood on this 
spot to execute a similar duty to that which has now been performed. 
He then laid the corner stone of the original capitol. He was at the 
head of the Government, at that time weak in resources, burdened 
with debt, just struggling into political existence, and agitated by 
the heaving waves which were overturning European thrones. But 
even then, in many important respects, the government was strong. 
It was strong in Washington’s own great character—it was strong in 
the wisdom and patriotism of other eminent public men, his political 
associates and fellow laborers—it was strong in the affections of the 
people. Since that time, astonishing changes have been wrought in 
the condition and prospects of the American nation ; and a degree 
of progress witnessed, which the world can furnish* no parallel. As 
we review the course of that progress, wonder and amazement arrest 
our attention at every step. The present occasion, allowing of no 
lengthened remarks, may yet, perhaps, admit of a short comparative 
statement between important subjects of national interest, as they 
existed at that day, and as they now exist. I have adopted for this 
purpose, the tabular form of statement, as being the most brief and 
the most accurate. 


Comparative Table. 


Number of States,.* 

A. D.1793 
15 

A. D. 1851. 
31 

Representatives and Senators in Congress, • 

135 

295 

Population of the U. States, 

3,929,328 

23,267,498 

do. Boston, 

18,038 

136,871 

do. Baltimore, 

13,503 

169,054 

do. Philadelphia, 

42,520 

409,045 

do. New-York, (city) 

33,121 

515,507 

do. Washington, 

— 

40,075 

Amount of Receipts into Treasury, 

$5,720,624 

$43,774,848 

do. Expenditures of United States, 

7,529,575 

39,355,268 

do. Imports, 

31,000,000 

178,138,318 

do. Exports, 

26,109,000 

151,898,720 

do. Tonnage 

520,764 

3,535,454 

Area of the United States, 

805,461 

3,314,365 

Rank and file in the army, 

5,120 

10,000 

Militia, (enrolled) 

• — 

2,006,456 

Navy of the United States, (vessels) 

• None 

76 

do. Armament, (ordnance) 

* - 

2,012 

Number of treaties and conventions with foreign powers 

y ^ 

90 




46 


A. D. 1793 


Number of light-houses and light boats, 

7 

Expenditures for do. ..... 

$12,061 

Area of the first capitol building (in square feet), 

— 

do. present capitol (including extension'), 

— 

Lines of Railroads, in miles, • 

— 

do. Telegraphs, ...... 

— 

Number of Post Offices, ...... 

209 

Number of miles of post route, ..... 

5,642 

Amount of revenue from post-offices, • 

$104,747 

Amount of expenditures in the Post Office department, 

72,040 

Number of miles (mail transportation), 

— 

Miles of Railroad, ....... 

— 

Public libraries, ....... 

35 

Number of Volumeyn do. * 

75,000 

School libraries, • ...... 

— 

Number of volumes in do. ..... 

— 


A. D. 1851 
372 
$529,265 
14,641 
4f acres 
8,500 
15,000 
21,551 
178,672 
$5,552,971 
5,212,953 
46,541,423 
8,500 
694 
2,201,632 
10,000 
2,000,000 


A short note is here added respecting the growth of Western trade 
and commerce, extracted from an address before the Historical 
Society of Ohio, by William D. Gallagher, Esq, 1850:—“A few 
facts will exhibit, as well as a volume, the wonderful growth of West¬ 
ern trade and commence. Previous to the year 1800, some eight or 
ten keel boats, of twenty or twenty-five tons each, performed all the 
carrying trade between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. In 1802, the first 
government vessel appeared on Lake Erie. In 1811, the first steam¬ 
boat (the Orleans) was launched at Pittsburgh. In 1826, the waters 
of Michigan were first ploughed by the keel of a steamboat, a plea¬ 
sure trip to Green Bay being planned and executed in the summer 
of this year. In 1832, a steamer first appeared at Chicago. At the 
present time, the entire number of steamboats running on the Missis¬ 
sippi and Ohio, and their tributaries, is more probably over than un¬ 
der six hundred, the aggregate tonnage of which is not short of one 
hundred and forty thousand—a larger number of steamers than Eng¬ 
land can claim, and a greater steam commercial marine than that 
employed by Great Britain and her dependencies.” 


West Virginia Coal Mines, Kanawha , June 1 st, 1851. 
Wm. H. Peet, Esq. 

Bear Sir: —Your letter, inquiring into our present condition, 
mining operations, &c., came duly to hand. I hasten at once to 
reply to your inquiries; but before doing so, I must beg to state that 








4 1 


you bear in mind this is tlie first year of our mining operations, 
and that it lias been utterly impossible for us to accomplish much in 
comparison to the magnitude of our enterprise, in so short a space 
of time—having, as a matter of course, to undergo all the interrup¬ 
tions and delays incident to the beginning of all mining operations. 
We have now, however, our Railroad completed, with cars, and all 
the necessary tools for vigorously prosecuting the business. Thirty- 
one houses, which the Company own, are so far completed as to be 
tenantable, and are now occupied by the miners. We have two saw¬ 
mills, one grist-mill, shops for repairing of the tools, &c., together 
with considerable land under cultivation, which furnishes our mines 
largely with necessary supplies, together with feed for our teams, 
which consist of horses, mules and oxen. The use which we make 
of our farms affords a great saving in our operations over what 
would be the case provided we had to purchase what we now raise 
from them. We have at New Orleans, on the way there, together 
with what is on the platform ready to be put into the boats, about 
one hundred thousand bushels of coal. The value of this coal, esti¬ 
mated at nine dollars per ton, which I believe is the lowest price the 
Company have ever sold for, will show as near as possible what may 
be the present condition of the Company, as the whole property to¬ 
gether with the coal on hand is paid for, and the Company out of 
debt. JOSEPH B. DAVOL, 

President of the West Virginia Coal Mining Company. 

P. S.—Our contract with the government for -the supply of our 
coal delivered at New Orleans, has been concluded satisfactorily. 


Colonel Peyton's Estimate , of the Expense of Mining and trans¬ 
porting to New Orleans from Peytona on Coal River , in Virgi¬ 
nia , 100.000 bushels of Canned Coal , referred toby Gen. Mac Neill 
in his Report to Elihu Toivnsend , Esq., on Coal River. 


100,000 bushels H cents, $1333 33 

“ Delivery on board Boats \ cent per bushel, 500 00 

20 Boats at $1 per foot—average 100 feet, 2000 00 

Equipping and provisioning Boats for voyage, $58j each, 1166 66f 

10 Pilots at $100 each, 1000 00 

10 Seconds or Strikers at $50 each 500 00 

100 common hands at $30 each, 3000 00 

Wharfage at New Orleans—$10 for each boat, 200 00 


9,700 00 




48 


Note 1. The task for a miner is 100 bushels per day. Every three miners 
require one wheeler when carriages are used to deliver the coal at the place of de¬ 
posit in front of the mine. The wages for white miners, they finding themselves, 
is one dollar per day, equal to one cent per bushel, for digging. The same for 
wheelers. When negroes are employed, they cost about 75 cents per day. Every 
thing included to f c. per bushel. 

Note 2. In low stages of the Ohio river, there is an additional charge of ten 
dollars per boat for pilotage at the Great Fall?—$200. 

1. The common Bituminous Coal will not bear exposure to the 
air and weather without great loss from slacking. The loss is at 
least 20 per cent, in the first instance, and is repeated every time 
the coal is handled. 

Cannel Coal is as little affected by the air and weather as marble, 
and of course in mining and shipping it the whole of the loss by 
slacking is saved. 

2. Common Coal is subject to spontaneous combustion when it 
lies in large heaps and gets wet, thus endangering its loss, and when 
in ships, jeopardizing the vessel and those aboard. The steamer 
Asia, running from England through the Mediterranean on the In¬ 
dia route, having on board 800 tons of common coal, was consumed 
on her voyage the present year by spontaneous combustion. 

Cannel Coal is not susceptible of spontaneous combustion. 

3. Common Coal has almost invariably a greater or less portion 
of sulphur, which fills the grates with scoria, and burns out the bars, 
a serious inconvenience as well as danger on long voyages. 

Cannel Coal is free from sulphur and burns to a pure ash, which 
drops readily through the grates, leaving them always clear. 


Steamship “ Falcon ,” 
New-Orleans, Febr'y \ 851. 

W. H. Peet, Esq. 

Dear Sir: —During the last voyage of this steamship, hence 
to Havana, and back, I have had an opportunity of observing the 
quality of the Cannel Coal, put on board by you. 

It seems to me to be of a very superior quality for general Steam¬ 
ing purposes: it lights quickly, is remarkably free from clinkers, 
and burns almost to a complete ash. Where there is sufficient boil¬ 
er capacity, I have no doubt it will give every satisfaction, and prove 
more valuable than any other quality of coal with which I am ac¬ 
quainted. 

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, 

MARTIN A. SCOTT, Chief Engineer. 


* 



49 


Extract from a Report of the Board of Engineers for Internal Im¬ 
provement , concerning the proposed Chesapeake and Ohio Canal , 
submitted to Congress by President Adams , Dec. 1th. 1826. 

“ One of the most important results of the acquisition of Louisia¬ 
na, has been, to alford to the country West of the Alleghany, an out¬ 
let to the sea. The tide of emigration then flowed towards those fer¬ 
tile regions, and their population now increases with a rapidity to 
which no other country can furnish a parallel. Already, a part of 
this population, finding itself placed at too great a distance from the 
Gulf, and the amount of its productions being considerable, demands 
new outlets; that by the Mississippi is not sufficient for them ; they 
require more. A chain of mountains of secondary rank, such as the 
Alleghanies, cannot bar the progress of a nation so enterprising as 
ours, and still less darken the future prospects of this great federal 
empire. This chain should be broken at every point where it is 
practicable, and the most prudent policy appears to be to hasten in 
the execution. 

u The State of New-York, in turning this chain to the North, has 
shown the first example; and, while in reward of its enterprise, its 
prosperity advances with rapid strides, the illustrious citizen whose 
elevated views especially advanced this great work, has enrolled his 
name on the list of the benefactors of his country. 

“ But scarcely has this communication through the State of New- 
York. gone into entire and active operation, before it is perceived that, 
in a short time, it will not be sufficient to satisfy the demands made 
upon it. Thus a few years will have sufficed to produce results 
which exceed what the most sanguine hopes could have anticipated. 
This fact, taken alone, proves that new communications will become 
indispensable. 

“New-York and New-Orleans are, at the present time, the only 
points towards which the products of the West can be economically 
directed. But these two points, placed, the one to the North, the 
other to the South, have each a certain sphere of action, which can¬ 
not extend beyond certain limits ; and there remains between their 
respective commercial range, if we may use this expression, a large 
extent of our territory, which, on account of its too great distance 
from each of these emporiums, is unable to transport its products to 
them, with profit. 


50 


“ These portions of onr territory include, more particularly, the 
States of Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and the 
Michigan Territory; to these we might have added the Western 
parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania. But, limiting ourselves to the 
States and Territory cited, we find an extent of 250,000 square 
miles of fertile country, whose population amounted, in 1800, to 
377,567, and in 1820, to 1,779,949. These States, if deprived of 
economical communication with the Ocean, cannot attain a reason¬ 
able degree of commercial prosperity; with the exception of cotton, 
they all cultivate nearly the same productions, and, consequently, 
they cannot possess an internal trade among themselves of much ac¬ 
tivity ; it is only by exporting these productions that they can, in 
this respect, contribute to and participate in the whole prosperity of 
the Union. 

u In such a state of things, the question of policy is not, it seems 
to us, to know if these communications will be profitable, but, in 
fact, to ascertain if the number of those which are practicable, ivill be 
sufficient. We will observe, on this point, that this extent of 250,000 
square miles, is at least equal to the kingdoms of France and the 
Netherlands taken together, of which the population is not less than 
35 millions of inhabitants. These two wealthy kingdoms possess, to¬ 
gether, a development of coast of 2,200 miles, besides eight large 
navigable rivers, which form a communication between the interior of 
the country and the Ocean. The Western States referred to may be 
considered as capable to support, at a future day, a population equal 
to that of those kingdoms. The great fertility of the soil, and the 
commercial enterprise which characterizes our population, leave no 
doubt on this head ; and if proofs were, however, necessary, we need 
only to recollect, that at the present time, when our manufactures 
are yet in their infancy, our inland trade is already the third in 
amount of that of France, while our foreign trade is equal to that of 
this fine kingdom. These States will, therefore, require a certain 
number of outlets to facilitate the exportation of all their products, 
and the importation of the returns ; and it is doubtful if even four of 
these outlets will be found practicable between the Juniata and the 
Savannah rivers, even by the combination of canals and railways. 
Thus, instead of fearing that these communications will not be profit¬ 
able, we should rather apprehend that, at a future day, they will be 
found insufficient for the passage of the trade between the West and 
the East. The insurmountable obstacles opposed by nature are 


51 


thus the only ones which should limit our efforts ; for, the more eco¬ 
nomical outlets we can open through this chain, the more will the re¬ 
sources of the West develop themselves, and the more will the East 
and the West become united by indissoluble bonds of a common in¬ 
terest.” 

Note. —A full perusal of the Report from which this extract is made, would 
much enlighten in a good many particulars ; especially in relation to dimensions 
of canals, locks, &c., and would satisfy of the utter absurdity of the proposed 
dimensions of the locks in aid of the improvement of Coal River, as understood to 
have been determined. 


Extract from the Smithsonian Contribution to Knowledge. Part 
I. Of the Physical Geography of the Mississippi Valley, with 
suggestionsfor the improvement of the Ohio and other Rivers. By 
C. El let, Jr., Civil Engineer , SfC., SfC. 

The Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio, with their great arms, are 
the guerdon bestowed upon the central valley of the United States. 
The physical characteristics and capabilities of some of these it is 
here proposed to study. 

In tracing the Ohio to its source we must regard the Alleghany 
as its proper continuation. 

This noble tributary rises on the borders of Lake Erie at an 
average elevation of 1,300 feet above the surface of the sea, and 
nearly 700 feet above the level of the Lake. The plain along which 
this river flows is connected with no mountain range at its Northern 
extremity, but continues its rise with great uniformity, from the 
mouth of the Ohio to the brim of the basin which incloses Lake 
Erie. The sources of the tributary streams are generally diminu¬ 
tive ponds, distributed along the edge of the basin of Lake Erie, but 
far above its surface, and so slightly separated from it, that they 
may all be drained with little labor down the steep slopes into that 
inland sea. 

From these remote sources a boat may start with sufficient water, 
within seven miles of Lake Erie, in sight sometimes of the sails 
which whiten the approach to the harbor of Buffalo, and float secure¬ 
ly down the Conewango, or Cassadaga, to the Alleghany, down the 
Alleghany to the Ohio, and thence uninterruptedly to the Gulf of 
Mexico. In all this distance of two thousand four hundred miles the 
descent is uniform and gentle—so little accelerated by rapids, that 




52 


/ 


when there is sufficient water to float the vessel, and sufficient power 
to govern it, the downward voyage may be performed without diffi¬ 
culty or danger in the channels as they were formed by nature; 
and the return trip might be with equal security and success with 
very little aid from art. 

And such is also the characteristic of many of the smaller ram¬ 
ifications of the head waters of the Alleghany, which do not rise 
on the borders of Lake Erie, they still descend so regularly and 
gradually, and uniformly, that they maybe safely traversed by rafts 
and boats when reduced to a width of only twelve or fifteen feet. 

The elevation of the Alleghany at Olean Point, 250 miles above 
Pittsburgh, as determined by the surveys of the writer, is 1,403 
feet above tide. Steamboats have ascended to this point in suffi¬ 
cient water, 2,300 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi, and 
might, by a little labor, be capable of running there at all times. 

The upper Alleghany and its tributaries, traced towards their 
sources, rise very uniformly, at the rate of about three feet per mile, 
and terminate in a number of small lakes of which the Chautauque is 
the most important, and separated like the others by a narrow ridge 
from the basin of Lake Erie. An excavation only 60 feet deep 
through this ridge would turn one of the principal tributaries of the 
Ohio into Lake Erie and the St. Lawrence. 

Tracing the Ohio River from Coudersport, which is some forty 
miles above the extreme limit of the natural steamboat navigation of 
the Alleghany, to the entrance of the Mississippi into the Gulf of 
Mexico, we find the following rate of descent from point to point. 


TABLE I. 

Descent of the Alleghany , Ohio , and Mississippi Rivers. 


From Coudersport to Olean Point, 

“ Olean Point to Warren, 

“ Warren to Franklin, 

“ Franklin to Pittsburg, 

“ Pittsburg to Beaver, 

“ Beaver to Wheeling, 

“ Wheeling to Marietta, 

“ Marietta to Letart’s Shoals, 

“ Letart’s Shoals to the mouth 
Kanawha, 


DISTANCES. 

FALL. 

FALL 

PER MILE. 

miles. 

feet. 

feet. 

inches. 

40 

246 

6 

2 

50 

216 

4 

4 

70 

227 

3 

3 

130 

261 

2 


26 

30 

1 

1 85 


10 0 

62 

49 


q so 

y i 00 

90 

49 


fi_5 3 
°1 00 

31 

r 

16 


6-lA 
W 1 00 

L 

55 

33 


n 20 
‘ToT 




Mouth of Kanawha to Portsmouth, 

94 

48 

6-UL 

00 

Portsmouth to Cincinnati, 

105 

42 

AJJL 

**100 

Cincinnati to Evansville, 

328 

112 

4 10 
^100 

Evansville to the Gulf of Mexico, 

1365 

320 


Coudersport to the mouth of the 




Mississippi, 

2446 

1649 



The descent of the Ohio from point to point, exhibited in this 
table, is derived from the labors of numerous civil engineers, whose 
surveys, carried across the States of New York, Pennsylvania, and 
Virginia, to the Ohio River and Lake Erie, and from Lake Erie 
through the States of Indiana and Ohio, are the only reliable sources 
from which we can yet determine the entire fall of this great com¬ 
mercial highway. 

The differences of the elevations at low water of the Ohio River, 
at Pittsburg, Wheeling, and Letart’s Shoals, are from a hydro- 
graphical survey made under the direction of the United States 
Topographical Bureau. 

The elevation of Olean Point in the State of New-York, and the 
heights of all other places in that State referred to in that paper, 
were obtained from a survey, conducted by the writer, in the first 
location of the western division of the New-York and Erie Railroad, 
in 1839. That of Point Pleasant, at the mouth of the Great Kan¬ 
awha, was also obtained from a survey made by the writer in 1838, 
for the James River and Kanawha improvement in Virginia; which 
survey was carried from tide water at Richmond, across the Alle¬ 
ghany mountains, to low water in the Ohio, and tested effectually 
from point to point. 

The levels of the Alleghany at Coudersport and Warren are 
computed from facts obtained from the survey of the Sunbury and 
Erie Railroad, made in 1839, under the direction of Edward Miller, 
Esq., civil engineer. 

The elevation of low water in the Ohio, at Pittsburg, is variously 
stated by different authorities. Preference is here given to the levels 
made under the direction of Messrs. Nathan S. Roberts, and Alfred 
Cruger, in 1829, for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, 

The elevation of the low water surface of the Mississippi, at the 
mouth of the Ohio, is derived from the recent survey of the Mobile 
and Ohio Railroad, made under the direction of Captain John Childe, 
civil engineer. 





54 


The level of Lake Erie, which forms the basis for the determina¬ 
tion of the heights west of the Ohio, was first correctly obtained in 
the location of the Erie Canal, and reported at 565 feet above tide. 

The elevation of that lake, as determined by the survey of the 
New-York and Erie Railroad, was 569 feet above the tide. 

The following table exhibits the elevations of the prominent 
points along the Alleghany and Ohio Rivers, above the level of the 
Atlantic. The writer regrets his inability to give to the respective 
engineers, by whom the surveys were made, proper credit for their 
labors. 


TABLE II. 

ELEVATIONS OF THE OHIO RIVER AT LOW WATER. 


Mouth of Ohio, above tide, in Gulf of Mexico 

Ft. above 

275 

Mouth of Wabash (approximately) 

297 

Evansville (approximately) .... 

320 

New Albany (below the falls) .... 

353 

Louisville (above the falls) ..... 

377 

Cincinnati ....... 

432 

Portsmouth ....... 

474 

Mouth of Great Kanawha • 

522 

Head of Letart’s Shoals ..... 

555 

Marietta ( Mouth of Muskingum) 

571 

Wheeling ........ 

620 

Pittsburg ........ 

699 

Franklin ........ 

960 

Warren . ....... 

. 1,187 

Chautauque Lake ...... 

. 1,306 

Olean Point ....... 

. 1,403 

Mouth of Oswaya ...... 

. 1,419 

Smithport ........ 

. 1,480 

Coudersport ....... 

. 1,649 

Surface of Lake Erie ..... 

565 


Cairo, at the mouth of the Ohio, is computed to be 1,178 miles 
from the Gulf of Mexico. The descent of the Mississippi, from the 
mouth of the Ohio to the Gulf of Mexico, is therefore 2^ 0 inches per 
mile, at low water. 

From Cairo to Pittsburg the ascent is 424 feet, and the computed 
distance 975 miles. The average inclination of the Ohio is there¬ 
fore 5|^ inches per mile. 

From Pittsburg to Olean Point the ascent is 704 feet, and the 








55 


computed distances, as they are estimated by watermen, or laid 
down in the rough charts of the river. While, therefore, wm may 
regard the elevation of the low water surface of the stream as cor¬ 
rectly ascertained, we can only consider the fall per mile, deduced 
from these computed distances, as close approximations. 

The descent of the Mississippi, below the mouth of the Ohio, at 
low water, may be confidently taken as above, at an average of 2^ 0 
per mile ; and that of the Ohio, from Evansville to its confluence 
with the Mississippi, at about 2,^, inches per mile. 

It has been suggested that the waters of the Gulf of Mexico 
stand much higher than those of the Atlantic on the spheroidal sur¬ 
face of the earth ; for the reason that the Gulf-stream, setting always 
towards the North, must have a certain descent to account for its 
current. That current can only be due to a certain head at the 
source of the stream, since the water in an open channel flows only 
in virtue of the inclination of its surface. But the levels in the fore¬ 
going table, which have been carried from the Hudson to the mouth 
of the Wabash, and from the Gulf of Mexico to the mouth of the 
Ohio, agree so closely, that, while we cannot dispute the theory, it is 
impossible yet to detect the fact. 

By observing the descent of the Alleghany, from Franklin to 
Pittsburg, we may conclude, that rivers, of which the fall does not 
exceed two feet per mile, if well supplied with water, must afford 
exceedingly good navigation between the rapids, which must be very 
remote and easily overcome. 

We learn, also, from the tables, that a descent of nearly four feet 
per mile , is not incompatible with the existence of steamboat navi¬ 
gation, if the supply of water be well maintained ; for a steamboat 
has ascended the Alleghany as far as Olean Point, overcoming in 
places a slope of five feet per mile. ” 

“ The great Kanawha is one of the largest tributaries of the Ohio, 
into which it flows at a point computed to be 714 miles above the 
confluence of the latter stream with the Mississippi. If we examine 
this river on the profile, we shall find that it descends more rapidly 
than the Ohio, even in the first section of 87 miles above its em¬ 
bouchure ; but still, for that distance, up to the foot of Soup Creek 
Shoals, possessing the general characteristics of its recipient. For 
that distance, also, the great Kanawha is either navigable, or sus¬ 
ceptible of being made permanently so. by furnishing its channel an 
abundant supply of water. ” 


56 


“ It is not practicable to exhibit even all the principal tributaries 
of the Ohio on the same profile without producing confusion. They 
must be compared, therefore, by their respective inclinations and 
developments. 

The Tennessee River, is without question the first in magnitude 
and importance, and destined when improved, as it will probably here¬ 
after be, and connected by Railroads with the great valley of Vir¬ 
ginia, and the seaports of South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, to 
perform a part in the commerce of this Union more important than 
that of any other stream, save the Ohio, from the Atlantic to the 
Mississippi. 

The mouth of the Tennessee is computed to be 45 miles from 
that of the Ohio; and its water level is there about 286 feet above 
the Atlantic. Its elevation at Chattanooga is 643 feet above tide ;* 
and the average descent of the stream below that place is about seven 
inches per mile. 

The elevation of the Holston, the principal tributary of the Ten¬ 
nessee, is 1914 feet above tide at Seven Miles Ford, in Virginia;! 
and the fall of that portion of the river, between Seven Miles Ford 
and Chattanooga, is about two and a half feet per mile. 

The summit which separates the head waters of the Tennessee 
from those of New River, at Mount Airy, is 2563 feet above the 
Atlantic.! 

Cumberland River, is the next most important arm of the Ohio, 
which it enters only 16 miles above the mouth of the Tennessee. 
The elevation of low water is here about 284 feet above tide. 

The surface of the Cumberland at Nashville, is 388! feet above 
the Atlantic, or 104 feet above the mouth of the river. The distance 
by the river, from its entrance into the Ohio to Nashville, is 240 
miles, and the average fall, therefore, 6£ inches per mile—very 
nearly the same as that of the corresponding portion of its sister 
stream, the Tennessee, but about twice as great as that of the Ohio 
below the Falls, and that of the Mississippi below the mouth of the 
Ohio. 

The Wabash, next in succession, but perhaps equal in volume 
to the Cumberland, is the largest of the tributaries of the Ohio which 


* Surveys of J. Edgar Thomson, civil engineer, 
t Surveys of C. Crozet, civil engineer. 

t From surveys of J. Edgar Thomson and James H. Grant, civil engineers. 




57 


descend along its northern plain. The elevation at low water at the 
month of the Wabash, is 297 feet above tide. In the first 91 miles, 
extending from its confluence with the Ohio to the mouth of White 
River, the fall is 67 feet, or 7^ inches per mile.* 

The foot of the “ Grand Rapids ” is one mile above the White 
River. These ripples have an aggregate fall of 10 feet, distributed 
over a space of eight miles. 

The inclination of this great river from point to point is exhibited 
on the profile. The total descent from the mouth of Little River 
to the Ohio, a distance computed at 370 miles, is 385 feet, or a small 
fraction over 12 inches per mile.f 

It is worthy of observation that the rate of descent of the 
tributaries of the Ohio, increases very nearly in proportion to the 
increase of the slope of the Ohio itself, as we ascend from its mouth 
to its source. Those rivers which enter below the Falls have gentler 
currents than those which enter above the Falls ; and those which enter 
above the Falls are more languid than those which come in near its 
head. 

The rate of descent of all these navigable tributaries, near the 
Ohio, is about twice as great as that of the Ohio itself where joined 
by the respective tributaries. Thus, the Tennessee, and Cumber¬ 
land, and Wabash, have each a descent of about seven inches per 
mile, while the average slope of the Ohio below the Falls is 3 inches 
per mile. We shall find other examples of this rule as we ascend ; 
but the next river in order is an exception which justifies explana¬ 
tion. 

Green River enters on the left border of the Ohio, from the 
State of Kentucky. The average inclination of this stream, from 
Bowling Green, on Barren River, a tributary of Green River, to its 
mouth (a distance of 175 miles) is*4£ inches per mile. The actual 
fall in this distance is 60 feet, and the rate of inclination but one 
third greater than that of the lower Ohio. 

To comprehend this structure of the country, and the cause of 
this exception, we must bear in mind that there is a continuous slope, 
approximating to that of a great plain, and extending from the sum¬ 
mit of the Alleghany range, continued south, down to the bend of 
the Ohio. But the prolongation of that dividing range sweeps round 


* Letter of Sylvanus Lothrop. 

t Report of J. L. Williams and Howard Stansbury, civil engineers. 



58 


through the western end of North Carolina and the northern por¬ 
tions of Georgia and Alabama, until it acquires a nearly due west 
direction along the southern bend of the Tennessee River. In fact, 
this great stream follows the course of the mountain range which 
divides the waters of the Atlantic from those of the Mississippi, and 
serves to mark its general outline. Cumberland river then sweeps in 
an interior circle, concentric to the bend of the Tennessee, and con¬ 
sequently rests lower down upon the great slope which extends from 
the summit of the dividing range to the vale of the Ohio. 

It occupies a lower level than the Tennessee, while Green River 
follows yet an interior circle, concentric both to the sweep of the 
Cumberland and that of the Tennessee, and rests nearer to the foot 
of the same great plain than either of the exterior rivers, and ap¬ 
proaches consequently closer in position and level to the bed of the 
Ohio. 

If we proceed from the Ohio in a south or southeastern direc¬ 
tion, crossing the valleys of Green River, the Cumberland, and the 
Tennessee, successively, we shall be constantly ascending to a higher 
and higher level, although the route leads over many intermediate 
elevations and depressions all resting on the same common slope, 
which, as before explained, extend from the west of the dividing ridge 
to the valley of the Ohio. 

Kentucky River, is the next important tributary which we find 
on ascending to the north. The distance by the meanders of this 
stream, from Three Forks to its mouth, is 257-1 miles, and the total 
fall 216 feet, or 10 inches per mile. 

The slope of the Ohio, between Cincinnati and Louisville, is 41 
inches per mile, in accordance with the usual relation between the 
fall of that stream and the rates of descent of its navigable tribu¬ 
taries. 

Licking River, Big Sandy, and the Guyandotte, can hardly be 
called navigable rivers. They are streams of an inferior class, and 
obey a rule so general that it almost amounts to a law, viz. that, 
under like circumstances, the smaller the tributary of the Ohio, the 
greater is its descent; a rule which holds, with few exceptions, 
whether the branch enter directly into the principal stream or reach 
it indirectly through an affluent of superior magnitude. The largest 
streams run in the lowest valleys, as if they had made for themselves 
the deepest channels in the earth. 

The Licking River, from West Liberty to the Ohio, a distance 


59 


of 231 miles, falls 316 feet, or 16^ inches per mile, while the Guyan- 
dotte river from Logan Court House to the Ohio, a distance of 
74 miles, falls 142 feet, or 23 inches per mile. These streams are of 
about the same class, yet the descent of the former is much the least 
rapid, as it ought to be, under the assumption that they both descend 
along the slope of the great plain which reaches from the Alleghany 
to the Ohio. The Licking crosses the plain obliquely, and descends 
it gradually, while the Big Sandy and the Guyandotte take a course 
at right angles to the axis of the mountain ridge, and obtain, there¬ 
fore, more nearly the proper inclination of the plain. 

The Great Kanawha, the next in succession, is a navigable river, 
and is correctly represented in the profile. From Loup Creek Shoals 
to the mouth of the river, is 89 miles, and the descent 86 feet or 
very nearly 12 inches per mile.* The fall of the Ohio, from the 
mouth of the Kanawha to Cincinnati, is 6-13 inches per mile, in 
conformity with the rule. 

The Little Canawha, from Bulltown to Elizabethtown, is 108^ 
miles,falls 181 feet; and from Elizabethtown to the Ohio, 27^ miles, 
the fall is 38 feet, or 12^ inches per mile. The descent of the 
Ohio below Marietta is 6T7 inches per mile. 

The Sciota is not navigable. The distance from Columbus to 
Portsmouth is about 100 miles by water, and the fall 302 feet. 

The Muskingum, from Zanesville to Marietta, about 60 miles, falls 
104 feet, has a rapid descent. From low water in the Ohio to the 
mouth of Wolf Run, a distance of 17 miles, the fall is 206 feet, or 12 
feet per mile. 

The Alleghany River, as already shown, descends from Frank¬ 
lin to Pittsburg at the rate of 2 feet per mile; while the Ohio, after 
receiving its great tributary, flows off with a fall of but little over 
1 foot per mile. But the Monongahela, the other great arm, con¬ 
trary to the rule, and unlike every other tributary, has a descent more 
gentle even than that of the Ohio itself. The fall of this river in 
the 91 miles extending from the Virginia State line to Pittsburg, is 
75 feet, or ten inches per mile. From Weston to the State line, a 
distance of 107 miles, the fall is 223 feet, or a fraction over 2 feet 
per mile. 

A reference to the map, with constant regard to the fact that 
there is a continuous though irregular plain, reaching from the Ohio 


# Surveys of Charles diet, Jr. 







60 


to the summit of the Alleghany mountains, will account for this 
anomaly. 

The course of the Monongahela, from its source to its confluence 
with the Alleghany, is almost due north ; and consequently, in as¬ 
cending from its mouth to its source, we double upon the course of 
the Ohio, keeping a direction parallel with that river, and also with 
the axis of the great dividing ridge. But the Ohio, which marks 
the foot of the plain ; and the summit of the Alleghany, which marks 
the upper edge, both have a dip to the south ; and the Monongahela, 
running due north, is therefore surmounting the dip while its surface 
is descending to the Ohio. 

The same considerations apply also to Tygart’s Valley, of which 
the general direction coincides very nearly with that of the Monon¬ 
gahela—both running parallel with the Ohio, but in the opposite 
direction. But Tygart’s Valley lies east of the Monongahela, and 
higher up on the great slope, while it breaks through the ridge of 
Laurel Hill, and follows the valley lying between that ridge and 
Cheat Mountain. Its fall is therefore greatly increased, and amounts 
to 150 feet in the first 20 miles above its junction with the Monon¬ 
gahela, or 7 2 feet per mile. 

Cheat Biver, a more important stream than Tygart’s Valley, lies 
still farther east, and runs nearly parallel with that stream as well as 
with the Monongahela, in a valley inclosed between the Cheat and 
Greenbriar mountains. The fall of this stream is 600 feet in the 
first 47 miles above its confluence with the Monongahela.* 

These mountain ridges and intermediate valleys and their streams, 
all run parallel with the crest of the Alleghany, and all the rest of 
the great slope which descends from the summit of that mountain 
ridge towards the Ohio. 

The summit of the Alleghany, at the lowest 
passes near the sources of the Greenbriar 
and Cheat Bivers, may be stated at 
The surface of Cheat river near the northwes¬ 
tern turnpike, at 

The surface of Tygart’s Valley, in the same 
parallel, at 

The surface of the Monongahela, in the same 
latitude, at 

The surface of the Ohio, above Parkersburg, at 


2400 feet above tide 

1375 “ “ “ 

1000 « « « 

910 “ “ “ 

570 “ “ •« 


* Surveys of Benjamin H. Latrobe, civil engineer. 




61 


Descending from the Alleghany to the west, we thus find each 
stream we cross, in the same parallel, occupying a lower level, until 
we reach the Ohio, at the foot of the slope. The breadth of this 
great plain, from east to west, is very uniformly 125 miles, and the 
total descent in that distance, is about 1800 feet, or at the average 
rate of 14£ feet per mile. 

If we now turn to the opposite plain in Ohio, and assume for the 
level of its origin the summit which separates the waters which flow 
into Lake Erie by the Sandusky, from those of the Sciota, or 923 
feet above tide, and for that of the foot of the slope the level of the 
Ohio at Portsmouth, we shall again find the distance about 125 miles, 
but the descent only 450 feet, or 3 6-10 feet per mile. 

The average inclination of the great plain, from the east and 
south, is, therefore, four times as great as that of the great plain 
from the north. 

The Ohio river occupies middle ground in the great valley which 
it drains, and the waters which it serves to shed are supplied in very 
nearly equal quantities by its northern and southern slopes. 




CHARTER 

OF THE 


WEST VIRGINIA COAL MINING COMPANY. 

(Incorporated ith March, 1848.) 


Washington, March 13, 1848. 

At a meeting of a majority of the persons named in the act of the 
General Assembly of Virginia, passed March 4th, 1848, incorpora¬ 
ting the West Virginia Mining Company, it was agreed to accept 
said charter. It was also agreed that the Capital Stock should con¬ 
sist of ten thousand shares, of one hundred dollars each ; that the 
proprietors of the charter and of the coal lands, owned by them, 
should receive eight thousand shares, and that two thousand shares 
should be retained to supply working capital, &c., these shares to be 
sold from time to time for the general purposes of the Company, but 
if not required for these purposes, to be ratably divided among the 
owners of the eight thousand shares. 

Messrs. L. M. Powell, and Robert A. Thompson, who have 
visited and explored the lands of the Company, made the fol¬ 
lowing report, which, together with the charter and the general 
laws referred to in said charter, were directed to be printed for the 
use of the stockholders, in pamphlet form. 

Wm. A. Bradley, 

Robert A. Thompson, 

Levin M. Powell, U. S. N. 




63 


REPORT. 

In pursuance of the request of the Stockholders of the West 
Virginia Coal Mining Company, we herewith submit the following, 
as the results of our examination of the property owned by the Com¬ 
pany in the county of Kanawha, State of Virginia: 

The real estate owned by the West Virginia Coal Mining Com¬ 
pany, and on which it is intended to carry on their mining opera¬ 
tions, is situated on Falling-rock creek, a branch of the Elk river, in 
the county of Kanawha, State of Virginia. Falling-rock creek unites 
with the Elk river about seventeen miles from its junction with the 
Great Kanawha, at Charleston, a village of considerable trade in the 
immediate vicinity of the salt works, and the seat of justice for the 
county. 

The Kanawha river is navigable for the greater portion of the 
year for the same class of steamers that ply on the upper Ohio, and 
during the dry season, or season of low waters in the West, the 
navigation only ceases with that of the Ohio. Elk river is a stream 
from 80 to 100 yards in width, with a moderate fall and gentle cur¬ 
rent, occasionally interrupted, at low stages of water, by bars of sand 
and gravel, forming shoals of no great extent or difficulty. 

In ordinary seasons, boats drawing five feet of water can descend 
without danger or difficulty, at intervals of from one to two months, 
making, perhaps, as high up as the mouth of Falling-rock creek, a safe 
navigation for boats of the named draught for about four months in 
the year. The erection, however, of one or two dams and locks, 
which can be done at a reasonable cost, would make the stream navi¬ 
gable at all seasons of the year. 

The lands of the West Virginia Coal Company approach within 
half a mile of the Elk river, at the mouth of Falling-rock creek, and 
include the valley of the creek, with the contiguous lands on both 
sides, for about four miles, covering a tract of 1,800 acres. 

The valley is from two to three hundred yards in width, and is 
bounded, on each side, by hills clothed with heavy timber, and rising 
to an elevation of from three to five hundred feet. At the base of 
the hills, on either side of the valley of the creek, the canncl coal bed 
makes its appearance in a solid breast of from three feet to forty 
inches thickness. 

On penetrating this stratum of coal, which has been done by a 
horizontal drift of more than one hundred feet, the geological features 


G4 


of the deposit have been satisfactorily developed, so far as it regards 
the facilities for mining purposes. The coal rests on a smooth floor 
of soft rock, from which it separates readily, without the slightest ad¬ 
mixture, and is overlaid by eighteen or twenty inches of indurated 
clay, from which the coal formation is perfectly distinct. Above the 
clay, which falls as the coal is mined, is a thick stratum of sandstone, 
which affords a secure roofing to the mine 4^ or 5 feet from the 
floor. The coal seam shows itself in several points along the base 
of the hills on each side of the creek, and the rough estimate made 
by us justifies the belief that it underlies some thousand acres of the 
land, with facilities for mining which are rarely surpassed in coal 
formations. 

The stratum appears to dip, or rather to coincide with the incli¬ 
nation of the rocky bed of the creek, in relation to the horizontal ; 
the precise degree has not been ascertained, but it is sufficient to 
say that the floor of the mine, where the excavation has been made, 
is not only dry, but would, if wet, drain the mine perfectly without 
artificial appliances. 

The vein has been opened at a point less than a mile and a quar¬ 
ter from the mouth of Falling-rock, and eight or ten feet above the 
level of the creek, by an entry eight feet wide, and exceeding one 
hundred feet in length. The coal formation is peculiar, and most 
remarkable. The bed consists of a pack of columnar blocks of four¬ 
teen to eighteen inches diameter, of the full height of the stratum, 
mining readily in masses of from twenty to two hundred pounds in 
weight. The upper and lower faces of the columns when mined, pre¬ 
sent clean polished surfaces, entirely free from earthy impurities. 
The coal is very compact, and breaks in conchoidal fractures, and is 
susceptible of a high polish, like pure jet, which it resembles closely. 
There is no dust or dirt made in the process of mining or transpor¬ 
tation, the clean fracture will not soil white paper, and its smallest 
fragments are distinct spiculas. 

Though greatly resembling the English cannel coal, it yet differs 
from it in several particulars. It is more lustrous, much harder, con¬ 
sumes almost entirely, and with little or no smoke, whilst the volume 
of flame is greater and more sustained than in any mineral coals with 
which we are acquainted. 

For parlor fuel it is incomparable. If introduced in ocean steam 
navigation, it would probably supersede all other coals. Spontane¬ 
ous combustion, which so often happens with bituminous coals con¬ 
fined on board ship, would be impossible with this Kanawha coal, as 


65 




it never slacks or runs to dust when handled or exposed to the 
weather, or when packed in mass. The vast volume of flame which 
this coal supplies, would probably cause several important ameliora¬ 
tions in the economy of steam ships. The necessity for the present 
powerful draught is at once removed, and the cumbrous stacks might 
therefore come down to half their height. 

The only experiment yet made on river steamers was highly sat¬ 
isfactory. It was ascertained that five hundred bushels of the Elk 
coal generated as much steam as one thousand bushels of common 
bituminous coal, and during a run of several days, afforded more 
steam than could be worked off by the engine. 

In relation to the facilities of getting these coals to market, it 
may be proper to state that a railway from the mine to the Elk, along 
the valley of the creek, is now in course of construction.* At the 
junction the boats can be loaded and safely moored to take the first 
high water, if deeply laden, for the Mississippi river. At other times 
the river affords navigation to the Kanawha, for boats of certain 
burden, perhaps equal to any ordinary canal. The Kanawha ceases 
to be navigable at the same period as the Ohio, and not sooner. 

It is believed that if depots of this coal were established at New 
Orleans and Havana, and kept regularly supplied, as they might be 
at moderate cost, thirty or forty thousand tons might be disposed of 
readily every year, which, at the price now paid for the ordinary 
English coals, would afford the company the interest of twice their 
nominal capital from this single source. The engagements already 
entered into by the company, justify this opinion. These are not, 
however, the only markets for this coal. Markets for its sale will be 
found at all the cities and towns from the Kanawha to New Orleans, 
and it is supposed it will be extensively used by boats ascending from 
New Orleans, until they reach some point above, where fuel becomes 
cheap. 

This coal, supposing it to be no better than the English cannel 
coal, will be worth more by five dollars per ton in the Atlantic cities 
than ordinary coal, and may be profitably shipped to those cities, ns 
ballast to the ships in the cotton trade. We may, therefore, safely 
conclude, by the expression of the opinion, that the demand for this 
coal will be commensurate with any supply the company may be able 
to furnish, even after the completion of the navigation of the Elk 


* Since finished and in successful operation. 

5 * 





66 




river, by locks and dams, or by canal, or by railroad, to the Kanawha, 
as may be deemed most expedient. 

Respectfully submitted. 

ROBERT A. THOMPSON, 
LEVIN M. POWELL. 

Note. —If the inquiry be made, “ What is your (our) estimate of the intrinsic 
value of this properly of the Western Va. Coal Mining Company?” in other words, 
on what capital would it guarantee, under proper management, to proprietors, 
seven, ten, to twenty per cent, net revenue? We answer, that, regarding seven 
per cent, as par, we feel assured it would yield that much, at least, on the present 
capital of one million of dollars. 

To illustrate the difficulty of calculating ultimate value, the undersigned, 
in the course of official duty in 1824-25, attracted the attention of capitalists, who 
took the pains to read his Report to his Government, or who in conversation 
listened to his statements about the existence, and quality, and quantity of Bitumi¬ 
nous Coal, in the now termed Cumberland District, to and from which cars and ca¬ 
nal boats, by railroad and canal, now arrive and depart night and day ; which, in the 
sequel, it will be seen they, in their wisdom, thought it very problematical, if they 
or he would ever live to see ! They did, however ; and they, we say, authorized 
inquiry on his next return to duty in the mountains , (for Cumberland was only then 
known to those who traversed the “ mountains,”) as to the terms and conditions 
—the price, in fact, at which the said Cumberland Coal Lands could be obtained. 
The inquiry was made and the result reported, to wit: That the most valuable 
portion of the Coal Lands south of Wills Creek, (there are none north—bitumin¬ 
ous—till you come to the Susquehanna River,) and extending nearly or quite to 
Savage River, including the Frostburg Property, were at refusal for $113,000. 
The Land alone is certainly worth ten times that. The whole property, as cer¬ 
tainly, could not now be bought for millions of dollars. “ Why was it not pur¬ 
chased ?” Not because there were not millionaires who authorized the inquiry 
at what it could be purchased ; and very intelligent and usually enterprising they 
were,—Messrs. Robert Oliver, William Paterson, &c., for instance ; not because 
the existence and quality and quantity of coal were not as represented ; but because 
(although surveys were then in progress for canal and railroad, in which they had 
largely invested,) they yet doubted when, if ever, either could be made. Both 
are in successful operation. The undersigned alluded to, knew nothing, in those 
days, of a Wall Street, or a State Street, or any moneyed Exchange. George 
McCullough, Esq., of Frostburg, Md., P. E.Thomas, Esq., and the Hon. John V. 
L. McMahon, and David Perrine, Esq., of Baltimore, will attest the general accu¬ 
racy of this note ; which note would be out of place, but for its application to our 
present subject ; which is not the disparagement of the mineral wealth of the 
Potomac region, within the limits before recited, but contrasting its past and 
present valuation, and stating facts, to leave the reader to draw his own inferences; 
whence it cannot be denied that the mineral wealth of the Kanawha and Guyan- 
dotte valleys alone far surpasses that at this time developed throughout the whole 
range eastward of the Alleghany Mountains. 


Wm. Gibbs MacNeill. 


67 


AN ACT 

INCORPORATING THE WEST VIRGINIA COAL MINING COMPANY. 

Passp-d March 4th , 1848. 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly , That C. M. Conrad, Wm. 
A. Bradley, Levin M. Powell, Robert A. Thompson, and Thomas S. 
A. Matthews, and such other persons as may hereafter, from time to 
time, be associated with them, shall be, and they are hereby, incor¬ 
porated, and made a body politic and corporate, under the name and 
style of “ the West Virginia Coal Mining Company,” for the purpose 
of digging, mining, raising, and transporting coal in and from the 
counties of Kanawha, Boone, Logan, Cabell, Wayne, and Mason, and 
such other counties as may hereafter be created out of parts of said 
counties ; and they are hereby invested with all the rights, privileges, 
and powers conferred on such bodies politic and corporate, by an act 
entitled “ an act prescribing general regulations for the incorporation 
of manufacturing and mining companies,” passed February 13th, 
1837; and shall be subject to all the rules, regulations, and restric¬ 
tions, provided and prescribed by said act, so far as they are appli¬ 
cable to, and not inconsistent with, the powers and privileges herein 
contained and granted. 

Be it further enacted , That the capital slock of the said company 
shall not be less than one hundred thousand dollars, nor more than 
one million of dollars, to be divided into shares of one hundred dol¬ 
lars each, and the said company shall have the right to purchase and 
hold lands not exceeding ten thousand acres, at any one time, in the 
said counties of Kanawha, Boone, Cabell, Wayne, and Mason, or in 
any new counties that have been, or may hereafter be, formed and 
created out of parts of the said counties. 

Be it further enacted , That it shall and may be lawful for the said 
company to erect and construct a slack-water navigation, from some 
convenient point on Elk river, contiguous to their said lands, and 
along the bed of the said Elk river to the Great Kanawha, and also 
to construct such railroad, or railroads, from any point on their said 
lands, to the Great Kanawha river, or any other navigable stream, 
or to connect with any other railroad or improvement which is now, 
or may hereafter be authorized by the State of Virginia. And to 


68 


enable the said company to carry out the provisions in this section 
contained, they are hereby invested with all the rights, powers, and 
privileges, and subjected to all the limitations and restrictions con¬ 
tained in an act, entitled “ an act prescribing certain general regula¬ 
tions for the incorporation of railroad companies,” passed March 11th, 
1837, so far as the same are applicable to, and not inconsistent with, 
the provisions of this act. 

This act shall be in force from the passing thereof. 

A. HANSFORD. C. S. 

Passed the Senate , March 4 th, 1848. 


AN ACT 

PRESCRIBING GENERAL REGULATIONS FOR THE INCORPORATION OF MANU¬ 
FACTURING AND MINING COMPANIES. 

Passed February \7th , 1837. 

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia , That 
whensoever hereafter any joint stock company shall be incorporated 
for the purpose of manufacturing, or for the purposes of exploring 
and mining for gold, coal, copper, iron, or other mineral substances, 
such company shall be Established with the rights and privileges, 
and under the rules, regulations, and restrictions hereinafter pro¬ 
vided. 

2. Said company shall have pow r er, under the name and style set 
forth in the act of incorporation, to sue and be sued, contract and be 
contracted with, to have and use a common seal, and change the same 
at pleasure ; and may hold real estate, the number of acres, and the 
county or counties, corporation or corporations, in which such real 
estate is situate, to be specified in the said act of incorporation ; and 
personal property for the purpose of conducting the business of man¬ 
ufacturing, exploring or mining, for which said company shall be 
incorporated; and shall have power to make such by-laws, rules, and 
regulations, not contrary to the laws of the United States or of this 
commonwealth, as may be deemed expedient and proper for the gov¬ 
ernment of said corporation ; but they shall not be authorized in any 
manner to divert the capital of said company from the specific pur- 




69 


poses for which they are incorporated : Provided , Nothing herein con¬ 
tained shall be so construed as to prevent any corporation from tilling 
any lands held by them, or from selling any timber, wood, or other 
material upon their lands. 

3. The amount of the capital stock of such company shall be spe¬ 
cified in said act of incorporation, fixing a minimum and maximum 
sum, to be raised by subscription, in shares to be specified ; for which 
purpose, books of subscription may be opened by the corporators or 
commissioners named in said act, as the case may be, at such times and 
places as the said corporators or commissioners may designate, who, 
as soon as the minimum sum specified as the capital stock of said 
company shall have been subscribed for, shall call a meeting of the 
subscribers, by advertisement for two weeks in some newspaper pub¬ 
lished in the neighborhood, or by some other convenient mode of noti¬ 
fication. 

5. And whensoever the mining or manufacturing operations of 
the company to be incorporated are proposed to be located and car¬ 
ried on upon the lands or property of any person or persons who may 
be willing to sell the said lands or property, with the privileges and 
appurtenances necessary for said operations, to said company, or to 
convert the same into stock of the said company, and convey to them 
the said lands or property at a fair valuation, the said owner or own¬ 
ers shall, in the books of subscription to be opened as aforesaid, fair¬ 
ly set forth and specify the quantity of land, with a precise descrip¬ 
tion of the metes and bounds thereof, and a full statement of the 
other property, rights, privileges and appurtenances, which he or they 
propose to cede, sell or convey to, or to convert into stock of the said 
company, and the price affixed to and demanded by said owner or 
owners for said lands and other property ; or if said owner or own¬ 
ers propose to sell a part to said company, and to subscribe the resi¬ 
due of said lands and property, he or they shall enter on the said 
books a full description of the part which he or they propose to sell, 
and the part which he or they propose to subscribe as stock of the 
said company, with the prices and terms of payment required there 
for ; and the said lands, property, &c. so subscribed by said owner or 
owners, shall be taken in full payment of his or their said subscrip¬ 
tions, and shall thereafter be and constitute a part of the capital stock 
of said company, subject to be disposed of in like manner with the 
residue of their stock aud property; and the lands, property, &c. 
which said owner or owners shall propose to sell to the said compa- 


70 


ny. and which shall have been entered on the books of subscription, 
with the price and terms of payment affixed thereto, shall, if subscrip¬ 
tions be made in said books, and if the company shall thereupon pro¬ 
ceed to organize itself, by calling a general meeting of the subscribers 
and electing a board of directors, as hereinafter to be provided, be 
considered and held as the property of said company, and the price 
of said lands, property, rights, privileges and appurtenances, so en¬ 
tered in the books of subscription, shall be a lawful debt of the said 
company, and it shall be lawful for the said owner or owners to sue 
for and recover the same in any court having competent jurisdiction. 
And unless the said owner or owners of the said lands, property, 
privileges and appurtenances shall, at the first meeting and organiza¬ 
tion of said company, or so soon thereafter as may be required of him 
or them, convey and assure to the said company a valid and perfect 
title in fee simple, to the said lands, property, &c. according to the 
specification and description thereof, entered on the books as afore¬ 
said, and also deliver possession of the same when demanded, the said 
company may, on such failure, either enforce a specific performance 
of the contract on the part of the said owner or owners, or, at the 
election of the said company, may regard the subscription or sale of 
the said lands and property, as forfeited and void. 

5. For managing the affairs of such mining or manufacturing 
company, there shall be chosen at the first meeting of the stockhold¬ 
ers, to be called as aforesaid, and on the first Monday of the month 
of May of every year thereafter, a convenient number of directors, 
not less than five nor more than ten, who shall be stockholders of the 
said company ; in which elections, and in all other meetings, the 
stockholders shall be entitled to one vote for every share owned by 
them respectively, up to the number of fifteen inclusive, and to one 
additional vote for every five shares from fifteen to one hundred, and 
to one additional vote for every twenty shares over and above one 
hundred: and may vote in person or by proxy, in such manner as 
may from time to time be prescribed in general meeting. The said 
directors, or a majority of them, may choose from their own body a 
president, and in absence a president^ro tempore. They shall have pow¬ 
er to call general meetings of the stockholders ; to supply vacancies in 
their own body ; to appoint such officers, agents and clerks, as the stock¬ 
holders in general meeting shall authorize; to take bonds with suffi¬ 
cient surety for the good conduct, fidelity and attention of such officers, 
agents, and clerks, and to do all other acts and things touching the 
aflairs of the company not otherwise specially provided for. 


n 


6. The presence of stockholders, entitled to a majority of the whole 
number of votes, in person or by proxy, shall be necessary to the 
transaction of business at any general meeting of the stockholders ; 
and such meetings shall be organized by the appointment of a chair¬ 
man and secretary, but a smaller number may adjourn from time to 
time. And if there should be no election of directors at any annual 
meeting, as herein before directed, the directors then in office shall 
continue until the next annual election by the stockholders in gene¬ 
ral meeting, in which the major part of the stock shall be represented. 

7. If the whole amount of capital stock authorized to be raised 
by any act of incorporation, shall not have been subscribed for before 
the company incorporated by said act shall have commenced its ope¬ 
rations, it shall in such case, be lawful for the president and directors 
of said company, whensoever they may deem it expedient, to cause 
books of subscription to be opened from time to time until the whole 
amount of the capital stock authorized to be raised by said act shall 
have been subscribed for ; and also, if so to them it shall seem proper, 
to fix the price of the additional stock at such a premium as they 
may from time to time direct; which premium shall be the common 
property of all the stockholders of said company, in proportion to the 
capital stock owned by them respectively. 

8. So much of the price of each share subscribed, whether before 
or after the company shall have been organized, as shall remain un¬ 
paid at the time when the subscriber shall become a member of the 
company, shall be afterwards paid by the subscriber, his executors, 
administrators or assigns, in such instalments, and at such times as 
the president and directors shall from time to time require ; and if 
any subscriber, his executors, administrators or assigns, shall fail to 
make payment of any sum so required of him, after thirty days’ no¬ 
tice of such requisition shall have been given in some newspaper pub¬ 
lished in the neighborhood, or by some other convenient mode of 
notification, it shall be lawful for the company to recover the same, 
or such part thereof as shall not have been paid, with the lawful 
interest from the time when due, and costs, on ten days’ previous no¬ 
tice, in any county or corporation court, or in any superior court for 
any county or corporation, within whose jurisdiction the defendant 
may be found ; or, if he be not found within the commonwealth, then 
upon motion in any superior court for any county or corporation in 
this commonwealth within which the cause of action may have origi¬ 
nated, on three weeks’ previous notice in some newspaper published 


72 


within said county or corporation, or contiguous thereto. And the 
company shall moreover have full power, in such manners as their 
by-laws may prescribe, to sell at public auction the stock of such 
delinquent, to satisfy any judgment recovered against him, or to sa¬ 
tisfy the amount with interest due from him and in arrear as afore¬ 
said, though no judgment may have been recovered, and to transfer 
upon their books to the purchaser, his executors, administrator or 
assigns, the stock so sold; and if the net proceeds of such sale, after 
defraying the costs and charges thereof, shall be more than sufficient 
to satisfy what is due from the delinquent, they shall pay over the 
balance to him or his order. 

9. If any stockholder shall sell and transfer the stock held by 
him, before the payment of the full amount subscribed for, he shall 
be liable for the payment of the residuum of the amount due there¬ 
after upon his subscription of stock, in case the person to whom said 
stockholder shall have sold and transferred his stock, shall fail to pay 
the same. 

10. The stock and all other property of such company as may be 
incorporated as aforesaid, shall be deemed personal estate, and as 
such shall pass to the executors, administrators or assigns of the 
stockholders. It shall be transferable only upon the books of the 
company, in such manner as the by-laws shall prescribe; and, until 
so transferred, the company shall be under no obligation to recognize 
the right of any assignee, and in the mean time may lawfully pay 
over the dividends to him who shall appear upon their books to be 
the stockholders, his executors, or administrator, without being in any 
manner held liable to any other claimant. But real estate purchased 
by the company, shall be conveyed to them, and, when sold by them, 
shall be conveyed to the purchaser by deed, as real estate, and as 
such shall be held liable to the payment of the debts of the company, 
and to sale under execution of fieri facias, in like manner as the lands 
of public debtors are sold. 

11. Certificates of stock, signed by the president and countersign¬ 
ed by the secretary of the board of directors, and authenticated under 
the seal of the company, shall be delivered by the president and di¬ 
rectors to each stockholder, in such manner and form as the stock¬ 
holders in general meeting may direct. 

12. The president and directors shall keep a regular journal of 
their proceedings, recorded in well bound books, and the proceedings 
of each day shall be verified by the signature of the president. The 


vote of each member, on every question decided by them when a di¬ 
vision shall have been called for, shall be entered on the journal 
if such entry shall be demanded by any member of the said 
board, which shall be laid before the stockholders at their general 
meetings. 

13. The president and directors shall cause regular books of ac¬ 
count to be kept, and balanced at least once in every year. And 
they shall cause dividends of the net profits of the company, or 
so much thereof as they may deem it prudent to divide, to be de¬ 
clared and paid to the stockholders at such time and in such manner 
as the by-laws may prescribe. And should any portion of the capital 
stock of the company be included in any dividend so declared and 
paid, the directors by whom such dividend is declared, shall be liable 
respectively, to all persons holding claims or demands against said 
company at the period of declaring such dividend ; and moreover, 
each stockholder who shall participate in the dividend of such capital 
stock, shall be liable to such creditors to the extent of the capital 
stock so received by him under such dividend. But such dividends 
of the capital stock may be made, when there shall exist no claims 
or demands against said company, and such dividend shall have 
been ordered by the stockholders in general meeting, and after three 
months previous notice in some newspaper in the neighborhood, or 
by some other convenient mode of notification. 

14. Whenever four-fifths of the capital stock of such company shall 
become concentrated by purchase or otherwise, in the hands of less 
than five persons, or more than one-half of the same shall be and re¬ 
main in the hands of one person for more than six months, all the 
corporate powers and privileges granted by the act incorporating 
such company shall cease and determine. If the company should 
not be organized by the appointment of a president and directors 
within two years from the passage of the act of incorporation, then 
all its provisions shall be null and void. And if at any time the 
company shall suspend their operations for the space of two years, 
then their rights and privileges shall cease, and their charter shall 
be forfeited. But whensoever the said corporation shall be dissolved 
whether by lapse of time or any other cause, their corporate name, 
with their right to sue and be sued, shall continue, for the purpose 
of collecting the debts due to the company, prosecuting the rights 
which shall have accrued under their previous contracts, paying the 
debts due by them, and satisfying all liabilities which they may have 


74 


incurred, and for the distribution of the property of the corporation 
among those entitled to the same. 

15. That all acts for the incorporation of manufacturing or min¬ 
ing companies, passed after the passage of this act, shall continue in 
force for the period of thirty years and no longer, and shall at all 
times after the lapse of fifteen years from the organization of the com¬ 
pany, be liable to be amended or repealed at the pleasure of the legis¬ 
lature, in the same manner as if an express provision to that effect 
were therein contained, unless there shall have been inserted in such 
act of incorporation, an express provision to the contrary. 

16. Be it further enacted , That the president and directors of the 
said company shall exhibit its books and property, condition, &c., to 
the inspection of such agent or agents as the general assembly may 
from time to time for that purpose appoint. 

17. Be it further enacted , That no company claiming the benefit 
of this act shall by deed of trust, mortgage or otherwise, encumber 
their property for the purpose of giving the preference to one credi¬ 
tor over another. And that whenever any such deed or mortgage 
shall be given to any one or more creditors, it shall enure to the be¬ 
nefit of all the creditors of such company existing at the time of 
such conveyance, and all such creditors shall be entitled to ratable 
satisfaction out of the property embraced by such conveyance. 

18. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the 
passage thereof. 


AN ACT, 

PRESCRIBING CERTAIN GENERAL REGULATIONS FOR THE INCORPORATION 

OF RAILROAD COMPANIES. 

Passed March 11 , 1837. 

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly , That whenever it shall 
be deemed necessary by the general assembly to grant a charter for 
the incorporation of a company to construct a railroad, the following 
general provisions shall be deemed and taken to be a part of the said 
charter or act of incorporation, to the same effect as if the same were 
expressly re-enacted in reference to any such charter or act, ex¬ 
cept so far as such charter or act may otherwise expressly pro¬ 
vide. 



75 


2. The books for receiving subscriptions to the capital stock of 
the company shall be opened at such time and places as shall be au¬ 
thorized by the act of incorporation, and under the direction of com¬ 
missioners designated in said act; thirty days’ notice of the time and 
places of receiving subscriptions shall be advertised in some news¬ 
paper printed nearest the general route of the contemplated railroad, 
and in such olher places as the commissioners may direct ; and the 
books of subscriptions shall not be closed in less than ten days. If 
it shall appear that more than the whole capital stock has been sub¬ 
scribed for within the said ten days, it shall be.the duty of the com¬ 
missioners, at the place first named in the act of incorporation, or a 
majority of them, to reduce the number of shares subscribed for 
amongst the subscribers, in fair and equal proportions to the amount 
of stock subscribed for respectively by each, until the subscriptions 
shall be equal to the capital stock of the company. But if the whole 
number of shares shall not have been subscribed for within the said 
ten days, then the books may be continued open, or closed and re¬ 
opened from time to time, with or without further notice, as a ma¬ 
jority of the commissioners first named in the act of incorporation 
shall judge to be most expedient, until the whole number of shares 
shall have been subscribed for. 

3. There shall be paid to the commissioners and deputy commis¬ 
sioners, at the time of subscribing, at least two dollars upon each 
share of one hundred dollars, and in that proportion for shares of 
greater or less amount; and the residue thereof shall be paid in such 
instalments and at such times as may be required by the president 
and directors of the company. The said commissioners and deputy 
commissioners shall forthwith after the election of president and di¬ 
rectors of the company, deliver to them their respective books of sub¬ 
scription, and pay over to them or to their treasurer or other au¬ 
thorized agent, all moneys received by such commissioners and de¬ 
puty commissioners : and, on failure thereof, the said president and 
directors may recover the amount due from such commissioners and 
deputy commissioners, or from any one or more of them, by motion, 
on ten days’ previous notice, in the superior or inferior court of any 
county or corporation wherein such commissioner or commissioners, 
deputy commissioner or deputy commissioners, his or their executors 
or administrators, may reside. The clerk shall endorse upon the 
execution which shall issue upon such judgment, that no security 
shall be taken, and the sheriff or other officer shall govern himself 
accordingly. 


76 


4. When the whole of the capital stock of the company, or such 
portion thereof as the act of incorporation shall authorize, shall have 
been subscribed, the subscribers, their executors, administrators and 
assigns, shall be and are hereby declared to be incorporated into a 
company, with all the rights, privileges and immunities, and subject 
to all the restrictions and liabilities of a body politic in law ; and 
by their corporate name shall be capable in law of purchasing, hold¬ 
ing, selling, leasing and conveying estates, real, personal and mixed, 
so far as shall be necessary for the purposes of their incorporation, 
and no further. They shall have perpetual succession, and power to 
make and use a common seal ; and by their corporate name may sue 
and be sued ; and may make such by-laws, rules and regulations, not 
inconsistent with the laws of this state, or of the United States, as 
shall be necessary for well ordering and conducting the affairs of the 
company. 

5. It shall be the duty of the commissioners at. the place first 
named in the act of incorporation, or a majority of them, to give pub¬ 
lic notice in the manner pointed out in the second section of this act, 
of the sufficiency of the amount of subscription as aforesaid, and to 
call a general meeting of the subscribers at such convenient place 
and time as they shall name in said notice ; which meeting shall be 
constituted as provided for in the eighteenth section of this act. 

6. The subscribers, at their general meeting aforesaid, and the 
proprietors of the stock at every annual meeting thereafter, shall elect 
a president and five directors, who shall continue in office until the 
next annual meeting after their election, and until their successors shall 
be elected; but they, or any of them, may at any time be removed, 
and the vacancy or vacancies thereby created be filled by a majority 
of the votes given at any intervening general meeting. They shall 
also, at their first general meeting, and the annual general meetings 
aforesaid, elect a vice-president from among the directors thus 
chosen, who shall preside during the occasional or accidental absence 
of the president, and who, in the event of a vacancy in the office of 
president, caused by death, resignation, removal, or other disability, 
shall possess the power and authority of president, perform the same 
duties, and be subject to the same liabilities ; but shall exercise his 
right of voting, and the other rights of a director, on all questions 
before the board. The president shall preside, when present, at all 
meetings of the directors, and have the casting vote when they are 
equally divided. The president or vice-president, and three direc- 


tors, or in the absence or disability of both president and vice-presi¬ 
dent, four directors, (who shall appoint one of themselves president 
pro tempore.) shall constitute a board for the transaction of business. 
In case of the death, resignation, or other disability of any of the di¬ 
rectors, the vacancy may be filled by the board, or by the stockhold¬ 
ers in general meeting. 

7. The company are hereby invested with all the rights and 
powers necessary for the construction, repair, and maintaining of 
their railroad, to be constructed with as many sets of tracks as they 
many deem necessary ; and also to make and construct all works 
whatsoever which may be necessary and expedient in order to the 
proper completion of such railroad. The president and directors 
shall be authorized first to defray with any moneys which may be 
received by them, the expenses of stationary and advertising incurred, 
and of the preliminary surveys for the railroad, made prior to the 
organization of the company, should they deem the same reasonable 
and just; they shall have power to make contracts with any person 
or persons, on behalf of the company, for making the railroad, and 
performing all other works respecting the same which they shall 
judge necessary and proper. They shall also have power to receive 
subscriptions for the residue of any shares required to make up the 
capital stock of the company, or any increase thereof authorized by 
law ; to require from the stockholders, from time to time, such ad¬ 
vances of money on their respective shares as the wants of the com¬ 
pany may demand, until the whole of their subscriptions shall be paid 
up ; to call, on any emergency a general meeting of the stockholders, 
giving one month’s notice thereof in some newspaper printed at or 
nearest the place appointed for the general meetings of the company ; 
to appoint a treasurer, clerk, and such other officers as they may re¬ 
quire, to sign and settle all accounts, and to transact all the business 
of the company during the intervals between the meetings, agreeably 
to the provisions of this act, and the by-laws and special directions of 
the stockholders. 

8. If any stockholder shall fail to pay any requisition upon his 
stock, called for by the president and directors, within one month 
after the same shall have been advertised in the manner herein be¬ 
fore mentioned, it shall and may be lawful for the president and direc¬ 
tors to sell at public auction, and to convey to the purchaser on pay¬ 
ment of the purchase money, the share or shares of such stockholder, 
giving one month’s previous notice of the time and place of sale, in 


I 


78 


manner aforesaid ; and after retaining the sum due with interest 
thereon, and all charges of the sale, out of the proceeds thereof, they 
shall pay the surplus over to the former owner or his legal represen¬ 
tative ; and if the said sale shall not produce the sum due on said 
share or shares, with the interest and incidental charges aforesaid, 
then the president and directors may recover the balance from the 
original proprietor or his assigneee, or the executor or administrator 
of either of them, by motion, on ten days’ notice, before any magis¬ 
trate or court of the county, city, town or borough in which he may 
reside, having jurisdiction thereof; or in case he shall have no fixed 
place of residence in the State, then before any magistrate or court 
of the county, city, town or borough in which the principal office of 
the company may be: and any purchaser of stock under such sale, 
shall be subject to the same rules and regulations as the original pro¬ 
prietor ; or the said president and directors may, at their election, 
before a sale of the stock as aforesaid, proceed from time to time, to 
recover from such stockholder the sum or sums so required to be paid 
upon his subscription by motion, on ten days’ notice before the court 
of the county of which he is an inhabitant, or by warrant before a jus¬ 
tice of the peace of such county having jurisdiction thereof. 

9. Previously to the institution, and during the pendency of 
proceedings for ascertaining the damages to the proprietor for the 
condemnation of his land for the use of the company, the president 
and directors, their officers, agents and servants, shall have full 
power and authority to enter upon all lands and tenements through 
which they may desire to conduct their railroad, and to lay out the 
same according to their pleasure, so that no dwelling house or space 
within sixty feet of one, belonging to any person, be invaded without 
his consent; and if they think the interests of the company requires 
it, to take possession thereof for the purposes of the company; and 
also to enter upon, lay out, and take possession of such contiguous 
land as they may desire to occupy as sites for toll houses, warehouses, 
depots, engine sheds, stables, workshops, and other buildings for the 
necessary accommodation of their officers, agents and servants, their 
horses, mules, and other cattle, and for the protection of the property 
committed to their care : Provided , That the land so laid out and 
occupied on the general line of the railroad shall not exceed, except 
in depth, cuts and fillings, eighty feet in width; that the adjoining 
land for the sites of buildings shall not exceed one acre and a half in 
any one parcel. The president and directors shall describe by cer- 


tain limits the land which they desire to occupy for any of the pur¬ 
poses aforesaid ; and it shall be lawful for them to purchase the land 
so laid out, or any part thereof. If the president and directors can¬ 
not agree with the owner or owners’of the lands so entered on and 
laid out on the terms of purchase, it shall be lawful for them to apply 
to the court of the county in which such land or the greater part 
thereof may lie; or in case they fail, within twenty days after they 
shall have taken possession of such land, to make such application; or 
if, having made the same, they shall fail to prosecute the proceedings 
thus commenced, diligently to a conclusion, it shall be lawful for the 
proprietor of the land to make similar application ; and upon such 
application by either of the said parties, the court shall appoint five 
discreet, intelligent, disinterested and impartial freeholders, to assess 
the damages to the owner from the condemnation of his land for any 
of the purposes aforesaid. No such appointment, however, shall be 
made unless ten days’ previous notice of the application shall have 
been given to the said president and directors, or to anyone of them, 
if the proceedings shall be instituted by the proprietor of the land, or 
if they shall be instituted by the president and directors, then like 
notice shall be given to the owner of the land, or to the guardian, 
if the owner be an infant, or to the committee the owner being non 
compos mentis , if such owner, guardian or committee can be found 
within the county; or if he cannot be so found, then such appoint¬ 
ment shall not be made, unless notice of the application s’hall have 
been published at least one month next preceding, in some news¬ 
paper printed as convenient as may be to the courthouse of the 
county, and shall have been posted at the door of the courthouse on 
the first day at least of the next proceeding term of said court. A 
day for the meeting of the said freeholders, to perform the duty as¬ 
signed them, shall be designated in the order appointing them : and 
any one or more of them attending on that day may adjourn, from 
time to time, until their business shall be finished. Of the five free¬ 
holders so appointed, any three or more may act, after having been 
duly sworn or solemnly affirmed before some justice of the peace, that 
they will, impartially and justly, to the best of their ability, ascertain 
the damages which will be sustained by the proprietor of the land 
from the condemnation thereof for the use of the company, and that 
they will truly certify their proceedings thereupon to the court of the 
said county. 

10. It shall be the duty of the said freeholders, in pursuance of the 


80 


order appointing them, to assemble on the land proposed to be con¬ 
demned, and after viewing the same, and hearing such proper evidence 
as either party may offer, they shall ascertain according to the best 
of their judgment, the damages which the proprietor of the land will 
sustain by the condemnation thereof for the use of the company. In 
performing this duty they shall consider the proprietor of the land as 
being the owner of the whole fee simple interest therein ; they shall 
take into consideration the quantity and quality of the land to be 
condemned, the additional fencing which will be required thereby, and 
all other inconveniences which will result to the proprietor from the 
condemnation thereof; and shall combine therewith a just regard to 
the advantages which the owner of the land will derive from the con¬ 
struction of the railroad for the use of which his land is condemned : 
Provided , That not less than the actual value of the land, without re¬ 
ference to the location and construction of the road, shall be given by 
the commissioners. 

11. When the said freeholders shall have agreed upon the 
amount of damages, they shall forthwith make a written report of 
their proceedings, under their hands and seals, in substance as fol- 

loweth : ;l We-, freeholders appointed by an order of the 

county court of-, for the purpose of ascertaining the dam¬ 
ages which would be sustained by-, the proprietor of certain 

lands in the said county, which the president and directors of the 

-company propose to condemn for their use, do hereby 

certify, that we met together on the land aforesaid, on the-day 

of-, the day appointed therefor by the said order, (or the day 

to which we were regularly adjourned from the day appointed for our 
meeting by the said order,) and that having been first duly sworn, 
and having viewed the premises, we proceeded to estimate the 
quantity and quality of the land aforesaid, the quantity of additional 
fencing which would probably be occasioned by its condemnation, and 
all other inconveniences which seemed to us likely to result there¬ 
from to the proprietor of said land ; that we combined with these 
considerations, as far as we could, a just regard to the advantages 
which would be derived by the proprietor of said land from the con¬ 
struction of the railroad, for the use of which the said land is to be 
condemned ; that under the influence of these considerations, we have 
estimated and do hereby assess the damages aforesaid, at the sum 

of-. Given under our hands and seals this-day 

of-At the foot of the report so made, the magistrate be- 











81 




fore whom the said freeholders were sworn or affirmed, shall make a 

certificate in substance as follows: “-county, to wit: I, 

-, a justice of the peace for said county, do hereby certify, 

that the above named freeholders, before they executed their duties 
as above certified, were solemnly sworn (or affirmed) before me, that 
they would impartially and justly, to the best of their ability, ascer¬ 
tain the damages which would be sustained by the above named 

--, from the condemnation of the above mentioned land for the 

use of the-company, and that they would certify truly 

their proceedings thereupon to the court of the said county. Given 
under my hand this-day of- 

12. The report of the freeholders so made, together with the cer¬ 
tificate of the magistrate as aforesaid, shall be forthwith returned 
by the said freeholders to the court of the county ; and unless good 
cause be shown against the report, it shall be confirmed by the court 
and entered of record. But if the said report shall be disaffirmed, or 
if the said freeholders being unable to agree, shall report their disa¬ 
greement, or if from any other cause they should fail to make a re¬ 
port within a reasonable time after their appointment, the court may, 
at its discretion, as often as may be necessary, supersede them or any 
of them, appoint others in their stead, and direct another view and 
report to be made, in the manner above prescribed. In default of the 
payment or tender of the amount of damages so assessed, to the pro¬ 
prietor, or of the payment of the same into court, when, for good cause 
shown, the court shall have so ordered it, the court shall render judg¬ 
ment in favor of such proprietor for the amount of said damages, and 
double costs; and may thereupon either compel the company to pay 
the same into court, or award process of execution therefor, as so to 
them may seem right. And when such judgment shall be satisfied 
by the payment of the money into court or otherwise, the title of the 
land for which such damages were assessed, shall be vested in the 
company in the same manner as if the proprietor had sold and con¬ 
veyed it to them. 

13. In the mean time, no order shall be made and no injunction 
shall be awarded by any court or judge, to stay the proceedings of the 
company in the prosecution of their works, unless it be manifest that 
they, their officers, agents, or servants, are transcending the autho¬ 
rity given them by this act, and that the interposition of the court is 
necessary to prevent injury that cannot be adequately compensated 
in damages. 


6 









82 


14. The president and directors for the purpose of constructing 
their railroad as aforesaid, and the works necessarily connected there¬ 
with, or of repairing the same, after they shall have been made ; or 
of enlarging or otherwise altering the same, shall be at liberty, by 
themselves, their officers, agents and servants, at any time, to enter 
upon any convenient lands, and to cut, quarry, dig, take and carry 
away therefrom, any wood, stone, gravel or earth, which they may 
deem necessary ; Provided , however , That they shall not, without the 
consent of the owner, cut down any fruit tree, or any other tree pre¬ 
served in any field or lot for shade or ornament, or take any timber, 
gravel, stone or earth, constituting any part of any fence or building. 
For all wood, stone, gravel or earth, taken under authority of this 
act, and for incidental injuries done to the enclosures, crops, woods 
or grounds, in taking or carrying away the same, the president and 
directors shall make to the owner a fair and reasonable compensation, 
to be ascertained, if the parties cannot agree, by any three impartial, 
intelligent and disinterested freeholders, who being appointed for 
that purpose, by any justice of the peace, thereto required by either 
of the parties, shall be sworn by him, and shall then ascertain the 
compensation, upon their own view of the grounds, and of the wood, 
stone, gravel or earth, which may have been taken therefrom, and the 
injury done as aforesaid in taking them: Provided , however , That it 
shall be the duty of the party making the application, to show to the 
justice of the peace that ten days’previous notice of the time of mak¬ 
ing the same has been given to the other party, or to some one of 
them; and no award which may be given under any appointment 
without such notice shall be obligatory or binding on the other party; 
and either party not satisfied with the award, may appeal to the 
court of the county, which may, at its discretion, confirm the said 
award and enter it of record, or, as often as they may deem it neces¬ 
sary, may supersede the said freeholders, or any of them, appoint 
others in their stead, and direct another view and award to be made 
in the manner aforesaid. If any justice of the peace, or any free¬ 
holder, shall fail to perform the duties assigned to them respectively, 
as prescribed in this section, upon being thereto required by either 
party as aforesaid, such justice or freeholder shall forfeit and pay to 
the party making application a sum not exceeding twenty-five dollars, 
to be recovered by motion, on ten days’ notice, before the court of the 
county of which he is an inhabitant; and shall, moreover, be liable 
to the action of the party aggrieved. 


83 


15. If the president and directors, on entering upon the land of 
any person under authority of this act, shall, by themselves or their 
officers, do a wanton or wilful injury to such land or its appurten¬ 
ances, or the crops, growing or gathered, or to any other property 
thereon, the company shall pay to the persons so injured, double the 
amount of damages, which shall be assessed by a jury, in any proper 
action therefor; and if such injury be done by any person or persons 
who have contracted with the company for the construction of any of 
their works, or by any persons in their employment, such contractor 
or contractors shall be responsible to the injured party in the like 
amount; and in any action brought for the purpose, the defendant 
may be held to bail upon affidavit before any judge or justice of the 
peace, that there is good cause to believe that he will leave the com¬ 
monwealth before a final judgment can be obtained. 

16. Whenever, in the construction of any railroad, it shall be 
necessary to cross or intersect any established road or way, it shall 
be the duty of the president and directors so to construct their rail¬ 
road across such established road or way as not to impede the passage 
or transportation of persons or property along the same. And where 
it shall be necessary to pass through the land of any person, it shall 
be their duty to provide for such person, and keep in proper repair, 
proper wagon ways across their railroad from one part of his land to 
another: Provided , however , That in order to prevent the frequent 
crossing of established roads or ways, or any interference with the 
same, by the railroad, it may be lawful for the president and direc¬ 
tors to change the said established road or way at points where they 
may deem it expedient to do so ; that for entering or taking any 
lands which may be necessary therefor, they shall be, and are hereby 
authorized to proceed under the provisions of this act, as in the case 
of land necessary for their railroad: And provided further , That 
previous to making any such change, the said company shall make 
and prepare a road equally good with the portion of the road pro¬ 
posed to be changed. But nothing herein contained shall be so con¬ 
strued as to require the company to keep in repair the portion of any 
road which they may have changed as aforesaid. 

17. An annual meeting of the stockholders of the company shall 
be held at such time and place as the stockholders may, from time to 
time, appoint; to constitute which, or any general meeting called 
according to the provisions of this act, the presence of proprietors 
entitled to a majority of all the votes which could be given by all the 


84 


stockholders, shall be necessary, either in person or by proxy proper¬ 
ly authorized; and if a sufficient number do not attend on that day, 
or on any day appointed for a meeting, called by the president and 
directors, these who do attend may adjourn, from time to time, until 
a meeting shall be had. 

18. In counting all votes of the company, each stockholder shall 
be allowed one vote for each share not exceeding ten shares, and one 
vote for every ten shares above ten by him held at the time in the 
stock of the company. No stockholder shall be allowed to vote at any 
election after the first, upon any stock which may have been assigned 
to him at any time within thirty days prior to the time appointed for 
such election. 

19. The president and directors shall render distinct accounts of 
their proceedings, and disbursements of money, to the annual meeting 
of the stockholders, and to the president and directors of the board 
of public works. 

20. The works of the company shall be executed with diligence, 
and if they be not commenced within two years after the passage of 
the act of incorporation, and finished within the period which may 
be therein prescribed ; and in case the company, at any time after 
the said road is completed, shall abandon the same, or cease to use 
and keep it in proper repair, so-that it shall fail to afford the intend¬ 
ed accommodation to the public for three successive years, then and 
in that case, also, their charter shall be annulled as to the company, 
and the State of Virginia may take possession of the said railroad 
and works, and the title thereto shall be vested in the said State so 
long as it shall maintain the same in the state and manner required 
by said charter ; otherwise the lands over which the said road shall 
pass, shall revert to and be vested in the person or persons from 
whom they were taken, by concession or inquisition as aforesaid, or 
their heirs or assigns. 

21 Whtn payment for the stock of any subscriber or stockholder 
shall be fully made, the president and directors shall deliver one or 
more written or printed certificates of such stock, signed by the pre¬ 
sident and countersigned by the treasurer, under the seal of the com¬ 
pany, to such subscriber or stockholder, for the number of shares be¬ 
longing to him or her, which certificates shall be transferable in a 
book to be kept for that purpose by the company ; and when trans¬ 
ferred, shall be delivered up to the president and directors, and be 
cancelled, and new certificates be issued to the transferee. All as- 


85 


signments of shares partially paid in shall be entered on the books 
of the company ; but such assignment shall in no wise exempt the 
assignor or his representatives from their liability for the payment of 
all sums due, or which may become due, upon the stock assigned by 
him, if the assignee or his representatives shall be unable or shall fail 
to pay the same. 

22. Upon the railroad the company shall have the exclusive right 
of transportation, and when a portion thereof shall be open for trans¬ 
portation they shall at all times furnish and keep in good repair the 
necessary machines, carriages and other requisite for the safe and 
convenient transportation of persons and property. It shall be their 
duty, at all times, upon the payment or tender of the lawful or cus¬ 
tomary tolls, to transport to any convenient place of delivery on the 
railroad, which the owner of the goods may indicate, and there to de¬ 
liver all articles which shall be delivered to them for transportation, 
or offered to them in proper condition to be transported, at some 
place on the road convenient for the reception thereof. They shall 
give no undue preference in transportation to the property of one per¬ 
son over that of another, but as far as practicable shall carry each in 
the order of time in which it shall be delivered or offered for trans¬ 
portation with the tolls paid or tendered. If the company or any of 
its officers or agents, shall fail to receive, transport or deliver in due 
time, any property so offered or delivered to them, or shall fail to take 
up or set down any passenger or passengers at such convenient point 
as he or they may desire, upon the payment or tender of the passage 
money, or shall demand and receive more than the lawful tolls or 
rate of transportation, they shall forfeit and pay to the injured party, 
not less than twenty-five nor more than one hundred dollars, at the 
discretion of the court, to be recovered by motion, in the county or 
corporation court, or superior court of law for the county or corpora¬ 
tion in which such preference has been given ; or in which they have 
refused to comply with the requisitions of this section : Provided, 
Ten days’ notice of such motion be given to the president of the com¬ 
pany ; and shall moreover be liable to an action on the case, in which 
full damages and double costs shall be recovered : Provided , The 
company shall not be required to put down or take in passengers, 
produce or merchandise, except at their depots or other regular stop¬ 
ping places, and except when any railroad or stage line may inter¬ 
sect the same. 

23. All machines, wagons, vehicles or carriages belonging to any 


86 


company incorporated subject to the provisions of this act, to¬ 
gether with all their works, and all profits which shall accrue from 
the same, shall be vested in the respective shareholders forever, in 
proportion to their respective shares, and shall be deemed personal 
estate. 

24. So soon as any portion of a railroad constructed according to 
the provisions of this act may be in readiness for transportation, it 
shall be lawful for the president and directors of the company to 
transport by their officers and agents, or by contractors under them, 
persons and property on the same, and to charge the following rates 
of toll : For the transportation of persons not exceeding six cents 
per mile for each person, including his baggage, if any, not exceeding 
one hundred and fifty pounds ; for the transportation of goods, pro¬ 
duce, merchandise and other articles, except gypsum and lime, not 
exceeding eight cents per ton per mile ; for the transportation of 
gypsum and lime not exceeding four cents per ton per mile, and for 
the transportation of the mail, such sum as they may agree for : 
Provided , That upon packages or boxes consigned by and to one per¬ 
son, weighing in the aggregate less than one hundred pounds, and of 
no greater dimensions each than two cubic feet, the president and 
directors may demand a toll not exceeding one cent per mile : Pro¬ 
vided , hoivever , That in time of war or insurrection, troops or persons 
in the military or naval service of this state or of the United States, 
with their arms, munitions and baggage, shall be promptly transport¬ 
ed, and for one half of the charge herein allowed, and shall be enti¬ 
tled to a preference over other persons or over goods, produce, mer¬ 
chandise or other articles : And provided further , That the presi¬ 
dent and directors shall be entitled to demand and receive for the 
wharfage, weighing, storage and delivery of articles at their depots 
and warehouses, rates not exceeding the ordinary warehouse rates 
charged in the towns wherein or nearest to which their depots and 
warehouses are situated. 

25. The said president and directors may make or cause to be 
made, branches or lateral railroads in any direction whatsoever, in 
connexion with their railroad, not exceeding ten miles each in length ; 
and shall have, possess, and may exercise in the construction, use and 
repair of the same, the same rights and powers, and shall be entitled, 
on the completion of any such branch or lateral railroad, to the same 
rights, privileges and immunities, and be subject to the same pains, 
penalties and obligations in relation to the same, as are by law pre- 


87 


scribed in relation to their principal line of railroad: Provided , 
That no branch or lateral railroad exceeding two miles in length, 
shall be commenced until the expediency of making the same shall 
have been determined on at a general meeting of the stockholders, by 
two-thirds of all the votes which could legally be given in favor of 
the same; and that no such branch or lateral railroad shall be con¬ 
structed until the main line shall be completed and in use. 

26. So soon as any railroad to be constructed, subject to the pro¬ 
visions of this act, shall be completed, the president and directors of 
the company shall, semi-annually, declare and make such dividend of 
the net profits from their tolls as they may deem advisable; to be 
divided among the proprietors of the stock in proportion to their re¬ 
spective shares. When the net profits shall amount to a sum equal 
to the capital stock expended as aforesaid, with six per centum per 
annum interest thereon, then the tolls which the president and di¬ 
rectors shall be entitled to demand and receive on their railroad, shall 
be fixed and regulated, from time to time, by the board of public 
works, or by such agent or agents as may be appointed by the legis¬ 
lature for that purpose, so as to make them sufficient, in their or his 

estimation, to yield a net profit equal to six per centum per annum on 
the capital stock expended in making and completing the railroad 
over and above what may be necessary for the repairs and renewal of 
the same. The president and directors shall in no case make any 
dividend exceeding the amount of the net profits actually received, 
so that the capital stock shall never thereby be impaired ; and if they 
shall make any dividend impairing the capital stock, the directors 
consenting thereto shall be liable, in their individual capacities, to 
the company for the amount of capital so divided; and each direc¬ 
tor present when such dividend is made, shall be adjudged to be con¬ 
senting thereto, unless he forthwith enter his protest in the minutes 
of the board, and give public notice to the stockholders of the de¬ 
claring such dividend. 

27. At the end of one year from the completion of the railroad 
the president and directors shall report to the board of public works 
a statement, in such form as the said board shall require, showing the 
whole amount of the capital stock expended in the construction of 
the railroad, with the several heads of expenditure, the amount of 
tolls received during each preceding year, and the net loss or profit 
on the capital expended. And at the expiration of every period of 
three years, after the said one year from the completion of the rail- 


88 


road, they shall return to the said board a similar statement, in like 
form, showing the amount and kinds of expenditures and receipts, 
and the net profits of each year of such period. And for each fail¬ 
ure to make the said returns, the company shall be liable to a penal¬ 
ty of one thousand dollars, recoverable on ten days’ notice in any 
court having jurisdiction. 

28. It shall be the duty of the president and directors of the com¬ 
pany to publish a notice of every dividend declared by them, and of 
the time and place appointed for the payment thereof, in some news¬ 
paper printed in the city of Richmond, and in one or more of those 
printed in or nearest to the town or place in which the principal of¬ 
fice of the company may be situated. 

29. The company shall not borrow money, for any purpose what¬ 
ever, without special authority of law, until the whole amount of 
capital stock subscribed shall be paid up and expended or appropri¬ 
ated, losses by delinquent or insolvent stockholders excepted : Pro¬ 
vided however , That if any part of the capital stock shall be unsub¬ 
scribed, and it shall be necessary to obtain the amount thereof, for 
the completion of the work, they shall have power to borrow the 
whole or any part of such unsubscribed capital as they may deem 
necessary; and may make the same convertible into stock of the com¬ 
pany, at the option of the lender, at any time within one month 
after the declaration of any semi-annual or other dividend of the 
profits. 

30. The full right and privilege is hereby reserved to the legisla¬ 
ture of connecting with any railroad which may be constructed, 
agreeably to the provisions of this act, any other railroad or rail¬ 
roads leading from either termination of, or diverging from, the main 
route of the same, or of any branch thereof, to any other part or parts 
of the state. 

31. The right shall be, and is hereby reserved to the state to sub¬ 
scribe for two-fifths of the stock of any company, subject to the pro¬ 
visions of this act; such right to be exercised within twelve months 
after the first general meeting of the stockholders, under and by vir¬ 
tue of an act of the general assembly; and, in case the capital of the 
company shall be subsequently increased, then such right shall be ex¬ 
ercised before the closing of the books opened to receive the ad¬ 
ditional subscriptions. 

32. The company shall not employ its capital to be engaged in 
any transactions or business but such as may be necessary to the 


89 


construction of their railroad and works, and their management and 
preservation ; nor shall they subscribe to the stock of any other in¬ 
corporated company, except for the temporary investment of surplus 
funds. 

33. If any person or persons shall, wilfully and maliciously, remove 
or disturb any of the company’s constructions, or place, designedly 
or with evil intent, any obstruction on the line of their railroad, so 
as to jeopardize the safety or endanger the lives of persons travelling 
or employed on the same, such person or persons so offending shall 
be deemed to be guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor, and if such 
person or persons be free, he, she, or they shall be adjudged, on con¬ 
viction, to be imprisoned in the common jail or penitentiary house, 
for a term not less than two nor more than five years; and if such 
person or persons be a slave, he, she, or they shall suffer death with¬ 
out benefit of clergy. 

34. If any person or persons shall wilfully destroy or otherwise 
injure any railroad, or any buildings, engines, cars, or other property 
whatever, connected therewith or belonging thereto, tending to ob¬ 
struct or interrupt the operations of the company, but without endan¬ 
gering the safety of passengers or others, he she or they shall forfeit 
and pay to the company three times the actual damage so sustained, 
to be sued for and recovered, with full costs, in any court having 
cognizance thereof, by action of debt in the name and for the use of 
the company; and shall moreover be punishable as for a misde¬ 
meanor. 

35. Any part of any charter or act of incorporation granted agree¬ 
ably to the provisions of this act, shall be subject to be altered, 
amended, or modified by any future legislation, as to them shall seem 
proper, except so much thereof as prescribes the rate of compensa¬ 
tion or tolls for transportation: Provided , That the rights of prop¬ 
erty acquired under this act, or any other act adopting the provisions 
of this act, shall not be taken away or impaired by any future act of 
the legislature. 

36. Be it further enacted , That it shall be competent to the gene¬ 
ral assembly to provide by law for the transportation of the United 
States mail over any railroad, for a fair and adequate compensation, 
and to provide the means of ascertaining such compensation. 

37. This act shall be in force from its passage. 


INDEX. 


Report,. .3 

Extracts from Prof. Shepherd’s Report, 1838, ...... 21 

" “ “ Roger’s Geological Report, 1837,* .... 21 

Soil, Climate, and Productions, ........ 21 

Extracts from Buckingham’s America, ....... 22 

Letter from A. F. Croagan, ......... 23 

“ “ Gen. Washington, ......... 24 

Extracts from the Western Virginian, .Tune 1851, . . . . .25 

“ « Sykes & MacNeill’s Report to the Guyandotte Land Co., 

May 1851,.26 

“ “ President Tyler’s Address, ...... 27 

Rail Roads in the United States, by P. Clark, Esq., ..... 30 

Table showing the Decennial Movement of Population U. S., . . 42 

Extracts from Address of Hon. Daniel Webster, July 4, 1851, ... 44 

Joseph B. Davol’s Letter to W. H. Peet, ....... 46 

Col. Peyton’s Estimate of Cost of Mining Coal, &c., .... 47 

Letter from Engineer of Steamer Falcon, ....... 48 

Extract from Report of Board of Engineers for Internal Improvement, submit- 

mitted to Congress Dec. 1826, ........ 49 

Extracts from Report of C. Ellet, Jr., on the Physieal Geography of the 

Mississippi Valley, . . . . . . . . . .51 

Report of R. A. Thompson & L. M. Powell, ...... 63 

Note in regard to the ultimate value of the Property of the West Va. Coal 

Mining Company, ......... 66 

Act Incorporating the West Va. Coal Mining Company, .... 67 

Act prescribing general regulations for the Incorporation of Manufacturing 

and Mining Companies, ......... 68 

Act prescribing certain regulations for the Incorporation of Rail Road 

Companies,. 74 






























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